Lucky Stars and Gitahs: Encore!
by ParadoxBattleZone
Summary: Sequel to "Lucky Stars and Gitahs." Eight years after their graduation from Ryoko U, Nanako Kuroi and Sawako Yamanaka reunite and rekindle their love. With the help of their students, the two teachers test the limits of their love...
1. Reunite

Chapter 1

After a long night of (among _other_ things) the fond remembrance of their days as students of Ryoko University, Nanako Kuroi and Sawako Yamanaka both came to the realization that their little reunion had reached into late hours of the night: midnight. Being both teachers and that both had obligations to uphold as such, they decided then and there to call their reunion quits.

They stood across from each other at the front door of Kuroi's apartment. As seemed their usual in their younger days, they both waited for the other to speak. Eventually, Nanako took it upon herself open her mouth.

""It was _really_ nice meeting you again, Sawa-chan," said Nanako.

Sawako could not help but blush slightly. "I agree… Also, you don't need to call me by nicknames anymore. We _are_ both adults, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, right," Nanako said, blushing as well. "Old habits are hard to break, I guess… Isn't it crazy that we _both_ became teachers, Sawa-c- I mean, Sawako?"

"Yes," said Yamanaka back. "Not only that, but out schools are but a short drive away."

"Yeah… So…"

"So what?" asked Sawako.

"… Does this mean… We'll be _seeing_ more of each other? Does this mean… we're back _together_?"

Sawako smiled. Choosing not to reply with words _just_ yet, she leaned herself forward to give Nanako a kiss on her lips. "I'll give you a call sometime, ok, Nanako?"

"… S- Sure," Kuroi replied.

"Goodnight," her friend said softly.

"Night."

With that, Sawako left through the front door of Nanako's apartment and walked down the three flights of stairs to the ground level. Nanako was left standing, as still as a statue, in front of her own door.

"_I can't believe this_," she thought to herself. "_This is… incredible! After all this time, Sawa-chan and I have found each other… We're back **together**! This is- I gotta tell someone!_"

Sadly, Nanako could only think of two people she could tell her news to: her mother and father.

Punching the number into her phone, a number she had not used in nearly two months, Nanako anxiously awaited the other end of the line to pick. Hearing a click, Hina answered with a "_Hello?_"

"Mom! It's me, Nanako!"

"_Oh, Nanako! It's been so long since we've last talked. How are you?_"

"Doing great. Listen, Mom, something amazing happened at work."

"_At the school? What happened?_"

"Well, a school from a neighboring town came to Ryoo High to have a combined sports festival. Mom, you'll never believe who's a teacher at the other school!"

"_Who, dear?_"

"My roommate from Ryoko University: Sawako Yamanaka!"

For a period of five seconds, there was dead silence on the other end of the line. Suddenly, Hina's voice sounded once more through the receiver. "_I'm sorry, can you say that again_?"

"I said," said Nanako, "it was Sawako! Remember, from back when I was in college?"

"… _Oh, that's wonderful, dear! I'm so happy to hear that you've reunited with old friends. So, did you catch up on old times?_"

"_That's putting it **lightly**_," thought Nanako.

"Well," she answered, "we just had a little dinner together, talked about the good old days, what we've done since. You know, that kind of stuff."

"_I see. Well, glad to hear you in such good spirits. How are things otherwise?_"

"Oh, everything's fine. Listen, sorry to cut this short, but I gotta get to bed. Sorry for calling as late as I did."

"_Oh, that's quite alright, dear. It's always nice to hear from you. Be sure to call us again_."

"I will, Mom. Bye."

Hanging up the phone, Nanako voiced a content sigh to herself. "_Man, this is great! Sawa-chan and I are together again…_"

-o0o-

Hina placed the phone on the receiver. Voicing a sigh of her own, she turned around to face her husband, Takumi, who sat at the kitchen table. "So," said Hina cautiously, "this is… unexpected."

At a point in her conversation between herself and her daughter, Hina secretly switched the phone to "Speaker" function, allowing her husband to hear the entire conversation. Beginning with a "Hmm," Takumi gave his response. "Unexpected indeed," he said.

"It sounds like Nanako was _really_ happy. It sounds like their reunion was more than just simple reminiscing. Perhaps… they've gotten back _together_?"

"Sounds like it," stated Takumi. "Worried?"

"No… Well, not exactly," said Hina. "… I really thought this thing between Nanako and Yamanaka-san would have ended once they went their separate ways after college."

"For a while, it _did_ seem that way," added her husband.

"But _now_, it looks like their back to how it was…"

"Remember what we agreed on, honey: we accepted Nanako's relationship _before_, so there's no reason we can't be supportive _now_."

Thinking for a silent moment, a smile formed on Hina's face. "You're right, Takumi," she said. "We should be supportive no matter _who_ our daughter loves, even if it _is_ another woman…"

-o0o-

"Ok," said Kagami Hiiragi, "what the hell are you talking about _now_, Konata?"

Slamming this week's issue of _Weekly Shonen Jump_ onto the makeshift lunch table (comprised of four, pushed-together desks, at which Konata Izumi, Kagami, Tsukasa Hiiragi (sister of Kagami), and Miyuki Takara sat) Konata opened the magazine to the first page of the first _volume_ of a manga entitled "D. Gray-Man."

Kagami, being ever the realist, took one look and asked "So?"

"SO?" blurted her blue haired friend back. "This is a _new_ series and I can already tell it's going to be big!"

"How can you tell, Kona-chan?" asked Tsukasa, showing innocent curiosity to her friend's enthusiasm.

"I just get these feelings in the pit of my stomach whenever new manga comes out. I can just _tell_ if they'll be great or forgotten rags."

"You read so many of them," added Kagami, "I'm surprised you can't just figure out the entire plot from the first issue."

"… No offence, Kagami, but that's stupid."

"Hey! Don't call _me_ stupid! You're the one acting stupid here!"

"Hey, what you call 'stupidity' _I_ call _devotion_."

Kagami, deciding to drop the conversation there, returned to her boxed lunch. Taking a glance to the head of the room, to the teacher's desk, she noticed Kuroi-sensei reading a section of the newspaper with a rather _noticeable_ grin on her face.

"Hey, Konata," said the pig-tailed girl to her friend, "does Kuroi-sensei seem a little, I don't know, _different_ to you today?"

Izumi took a glance at her teacher (Tsukasa and Miyuki joining in as well). Indeed she did notice the lightened look on Kuroi's face.

"Hmm," said Miyuki aloud. "She _does_ seem to be in high spirits today. I wonder what brought it on?"

"Oh, I think _I_ know, Izumi said slyly, "but let's ask her anyway." Then, raising her hand over her head, she waved the attention of her teacher, accompanying it with a "Yoohoo, Teach! Come here for a sec."

Folding up her reading material, Nanko got up from her desk and approached the girls' lunch table, all the while maintaining her grin. "What's up, Izumi?" she asked her student. "Something you wanna ask?"

"Nothing really," Konata replied. "You just look kind of happy today… This wouldn't have to do with your _friend_ from yesterday, would it?" The last part was spoken in a rather implying manner.

"Hey," Kuroi shot back, "I don't like that tone of yours, Izumi. You mind what you say to your sensei."

"Yeah yeah, sure… But I'm right aren't I?"

Nanako's wordless silence was answer enough for the blued haired girl. "Thought so."

"Ok," entered Kagami, "I'm lost here. What's going on here?"

"Oh man, Kagamin, you should have been there!" explained Konata excitedly, turning back around to her friend. "Yesterday, at the sports festival, after that performance from the band from the other school, I met Kuroi-sensei in the hallways talking to a teacher from the other school! She-"

"Hey!" interjected Nanako. "You mind if _I_ tell my story?" Hearing no objection from Izumi, Kuroi picked up where she left off. "So yeah, it was another teacher. We both went to the same university, shared the same room for four years. Nothing big."

The other girls' eyes seemed to widen with news. "Really?" asked Tsukasa. "Sounds like you two were good friends."

"We were, actually." _That's putting it lightly…_

"It must be nice," added Miyuki, "to reunite with friends from years ago. What was her name? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"No mind at all. Her name's Sawako Yamanaka. She's a teacher and the adviser of the light music club in Sakura High."

"Yeah, but she left out the best part: the college Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san were in was Ryoko University, an all _girls_ school!"

"… So?" asked Kagami flatly.

"Again with your 'so's!' Kagamin, don't you know what _happens_ at all girls univ -"

WHAM!

Kuroi, with the aid of her knuckles, created a brand new lump on Konata's head. "Don't you start saying things that aren't true, Izumi!" Nanako threatened. "For your information, what you've _probably_ heard isn't true. All girl universities aren't like… _that_.

Got it, Izumi?"

"Yes yes, Sensei, I get it," Konata replied, rubbing her new bump. "Just don't hit me again. That hurts."

"Good." Nanako then glanced at the clock. "Huh, looks like lunch is over. Sorry, Hiiragi, but looks like you gotta leave."

"Ok," said Kagami politely as she packed up her bento and said her "See ya" to her friends. On her way out, Konata could not help but put one final word in. "I'll give you a call later. We gotta discuss this in further detail-"

WHAM!

"I don't think so!" commanded Kuroi.

-o0o-

Later that same day, when school hours seemed long over, the halls of Sakura High were dead quite… well, _almost_. In a seemingly tucked away corner of the school, up a flight of stairs (its handrails adorned with small brass statuettes of turtles) existed the music room where the school's light music club met every day.

From behind the closed doors of the room, the light music club's band (known as Houkago Tea Time) were just finishing the last cords to one of their more popular songs "My Love is a Stapler." With the song complete, the five members of the band (Yui Hirasawa, Tsumugi Kotobuki, Ritsu Tainaka, Mio Akiyama, and Azusa Nakano) stood in place silently, making personal reflection of their own performance in their practice session.

That silence lasted a grand total of about _two_ second and was promptly cut short with Yui setting her guitar aside and taking her respective seat at the table at the other end of the room. The others could only look and roll their eyes at their friend. "Come on, Yui," commented Azusa, placing her guitar aside, "we've only practiced _one_ song! Can you wait a _little_ while longer before we all goof off?"

"But Azu-nyan," said Yui back in a playful pout, "we usually have tea and cake _before_ we practice and this time we didn't. Besides, Mugi said she brought _special_ cake today!"

A nod from Mugi herself confirmed this. "I _guess_ it's special," she said, trying to sound modest. This grabbed the full attention of Ritsu and Mio. Approaching the table, to the white box that had sat atop it since the club meeting had started, Mugi opened it up and lifted from within a decorative cake, covered in a light pink frosting. Cutting a sliver of it and placing it onto a plate, the inner magic was revealed: _dark_ chocolate color.

Voicing an enthusiastic "Ooooh!", Yui asked "What kind is it?"

"German chocolate ca-"

Before the word "cake" could be finished, the plate and cake sliver had mysteriously found itself placed directly in front of Hirasawa, her glimmering eyes glued to it. Becoming intrigued, Mio and Ritsu finally joined their friend at the table, leaving Azusa the only one still in their original position.

"G-guys?" said Azusa, "maybe we can do _one_ more song before we have cake?"

"But Azu-nyan," said Yui, "it's German _chocolate_ cake. I know you _waaaant _some."

Azusa knew her sempai (Yui) well. Then tea and cake were thrown into the equation, there was no changing of Hirasawa's mind. Voicing a relenting sigh, Azusa joined the others at the table.

Mugi placed a slice of the German chocolate cake in front of everyone before finally serving herself. Just before everyone was about to dig in, a new voice sounded from the door. "Hey!" she said. "Got enough for one more?"

The light music club turned to the door to see the club's advisor, Sawako Yamanaka, poking her head through and giving a wave of her hand.

"Sure," replied Mugi as she cut another piece.

Letting herself in, Sawako took a seat in the only empty seat left and once the cake was placed in front of her, she wasted no time in taking a bite. A few seconds of chewing later resulted in her giving the elated exclamation of "This is _great_!"

As everyone _else_ dug into their cake, Yui's eyes seemed to drift off the cake (surprisingly) and onto her sensei, who seemed to have an ever constant grin. "Sawa-chan, you look _happy_ today," she commented aloud.

Lifting her eyes from her plate, she thought for a brief second before saying "Yeah, I guess I _am_."

"Did something cool happen to you?" asked Ritsu.

_That's for sure…_ "I, uh, met an old friend yesterday, at the sports festival at Ryoo High."

"_Really?_ Who?" All the other girls seemed to get interested _really _quickly.

"Well," Sawako explained slowly, "we were roommates all throughout college… at Ryoko University," she quickly added at the end.

"That's an all girls university, right?" asked Mio, who was answered in the form of a nod from Sawako. "What's her name?"

"Nanako Kuroi. She's now a history teacher at Ryoo High."

"Sounds like you two were good friends," commented Azusa.

_That's putting it lightly_. "Yeah, we were. We _still_ are."

From the silence that ensued shortly after, Ritsu gave an interested "Hmm." When Mio asked what that was for, she thought aloud that "You know, people say a lot of things about all girls universities…"

"… Like?" asked Mio, who was now beginning to get scared at what Ritsu was staring to implying.

"Oh, you know, that there are lots of the 'L-words' there."

While everyone else seemed to cringe at what Ritsu just said (and Sawako losing her grin in an instant), Mugi and Azusa, in a show of their individual innocence, asked in unison "L-words?"

"Yeah, le-"

"Don't you _dare_ finish that sentence!" Sawako suddenly snapped, shooting up from her chair.

Though it made her jump, Ritsu seemed unshaken from Yamanaka's sudden outburst. "Why?" she asked her casually, "it's not like _you're_ an L-word. What are you getting all mad about?"

_Damn it…_ "Uh… Tainaka, it's not nice to make assumptions like that. Besides, even if _I'm_ not an… 'L-word,' I'm not going to let you bad-mouth the students of Ryoko U. Besides, _this_ school is an all girl school. You say that people _here_ are 'L-words?'"

"No, no!" Ritsu quickly defended, "I just-"

"Then keep your mouth shut, got it?"

"Yes, sensei," she said defeatedly.

Feeling somewhat victorious over what _could_ have been a rather awkward situation, Sawako sat back down and resumed taking small bites from her cake.

"So, do you know anyone that _were_ lesbians?" Ritsu suddenly blurted out.

**[The following has been omitted. Reason: Child Abuse.]**


	2. Daiwa Part Deux

Chapter 2

For the past few minutes or so, Nanako had been standing in front of the full-body mirror in her bedroom, making sure her outfit was neat and, more importantly, looked good. It was only when the buzzer sounded (signifying that someone was at the front door of the apartment building) was when Nanako finally ripped herself from the mirror. Knowing _exactly_ who it was, she unlocked the door and waited for her guest to walk up the three flights of stairs to her floor.

Finally hearing the knock on her door, Kuroi opened up and gave a wide smile to her friend. "Glad you could make it," she said to her guest.

"Yeah," replied Sawako back. "For a while there, I thought the school would have had a hold of me all _day_, but at the last second they finished up the board meeting and we all got to leave early."

"Well good. I'm kind of excited about tonight. I mean, its like our first date since our university days."

"_First_? What do you call last week then?" She was referring to their initial reuniting at the sports festival and, more specifically, what happened _after_.

"Uh… I call that 'catching up.' _This _will be a date. So, Sawako, where did you decide on bringing me today?"

"_That's_ a secret. You'll find out soon enough. You ready to go?" She asked Nanako.

"_Been_ ready," she replied.

With that, the two walked down the steps and out of the apartment building. As they walked around the structure and toward the parking lot located behind the building, Nanako could not help but grin in anticipation. It had been such a long time since she had ridden in Sawako's Mustang and the thought of hearing the roar of the engine made her almost squeal in delight.

But when Sawako approached a Scion xB and open the door with her key, Kuroi's heart felt as if it was impaled with the Buster Sword. Noticing her friend now frozen in place, Yamanaka asked her "What?"

"… _That_ is you car now?" asked Nanako, hoping to God that this was all a joke.

"Yeah, it is? Why?"

"… Jesus, Sawa-chan, I get changing your appearance to look more like a teacher, but getting rid of the _Mustang_?"

"Oh, don't worry," Sawako said back as she stepped into the driver's seat, "I kept it."

**Phoenix Down: Nanako's Heart**

Jumping into the passenger seat and throwing the seatbelt on, Kuroi excitedly asked "You kept it? You kept the Mustang?"

"Yep," she replied casually. "I take it for a ride every now and then, just to turn heads, really. I could never give _her_ up."

"Awesome! When can we ride around in it?"

"Soon, Nanako," replied Sawako, who then took a glance at the digital clock in the dashboard. "Crap, we gotta get moving. Don't want my reservation to go to waste."

"_A reservation_," Nanako thought to herself as Sawako drove out of the parking lot and onto the main road. "_Sounds like that one time… No, I'm just imagining things. There's no way she would bring me back **there**_, _would she_?"

-o0o-

She did.

Nanako seemed to be in a trance, her eyes gazing across the street at the restaurant that sat before her: Daiwa Sushi. The memories of that day years ago, Nanako's failed attempt at impressing Sawako on her birthday, seemed to come flooding back into her mind. Even though this particular Daiwa Sushi was not the same one from before, it shook Nanako's confidence even still.

She only broke from her trance by a jab in her left arm by Sawako's elbow. "What's wrong with you?" she asked Kuroi. "I thought you'd be happy to come here."

"But the last time we came here I was trying to impress you… but I failed. Why would I be happy returning to _that_?" Nanako asked in reply.

"Well, if we never when there, we never would have done all that stuff _after_ dinner."

A blush shot across Kuroi's face. "I guess…" she whispered. Suddenly being grabbed by her left arm, Sawako pulled her friend across the street and to the direct front of the line. Immediately upon arrival, the waitress dispensed with the obligatory "May I help you?"

"We have a reservation," explained Sawako.

Retrieving the clipboard, she then asked "Name?"

"Suzumiya."

"_What the-_?" thought Nanako.

"Ah yes," then said the waitress, "right here: table for two. Please follow me."

With absolutely no trouble at all (a complete turn-around from their previous experiences with this restaurant chain) the girls were seated at a booth. Immediately, Sawako ordered sake. As their waitress left to get the two's drinks, Sawako noticed that Nanako had placed on her a raised eyebrow.

"What?" Yamanaka asked her friend.

"'_Suzumiya_?' Really, Sawako?" she asked back.

"What, _you_ did it before."

"Yeah, a _long_ time ago."

"Not _that_ long ago. Besides, who cares? I was just joking around."

"Whatever… So why _did_ you bring me here, Sawako?" Kuroi asked.

"… For a second chance," Sawako replied. "Since our first time going here bombed, I thought of giving it a second shot."

Though Nanako gave a slight cringe of her lips at the thought of being here, she kept quite. A few moments later, the sake arrived and by that time, Sawako had already chosen _both_ their orders. "Emperor's Platter," she told the waitress and she walked off with her order.

Kuroi gave her friend a glare from across the table. "You _really_ are just screwing with me, aren't you?" she asked.

"Oh lighten up, Kuroi," Sawako said back as she once more poured sake for the both of them. "This time, this date will go off without a hitch. I promise."

Again, Nanako cringed her lip slightly, but she trusted Yamanaka enough to believe her when she made a promise like that. Even so, with each passing minute, Kuroi's hopes that the date _would_ go perfectly began to fade. At one point, she wanted to just grab Sawako and leave-

"It's here," Sawako suddenly said.

The waitress returned holding up with one arm a platter with a huge radius. Placing it on the table's surface, Kuroi's eyes seemed to light up with stars. Displayed before her was an elaborate and _incredibly_ pricey platter, complete with a number of different sushi to sample (Nigirizushi, Makizushi, and Oshizushi, just to name a few.)

"Anything else you would like, mame?" the waitress asked Sawako.

Taking a glance at Kuroi's ecstatic look, she smirked the reply of "I think we're set here."

Even after the waitress left, Nanako's eyes seemed immovable from the display placed before her. They were only lifted when Sawako reached across the table and gave her friend a hard flick against her forehead. "You gonna eat the thing," asked Sawako, "or are you just going to look at it all night?"

"… You talking about the platter or _yourself_?" Nanako joked.

Yamanaka's face suddenly blushed. She accompanied it with a light-hearted "Did my little Kuroi just make a _dirty joke_?"

"Catch you off guard, did I?" Nanako asked back, all the while grinning. Taking chopsticks in hand, she plucked a piece of sushi at random from the platter and popping it into her mouth. After a few seconds of chewing, followed after by a swallow… Nanako seemed to melt into her seat with an euphoric look on her face.

"Uh, Nanako?" asked Sawako as she leaned across the table to look at her sunken friend, "you alright there?"

"… It's _delicious_," she replied in a fluttering voice.

"Is it _that_ good?" Taking a piece for herself, she ate as well… only to follow in the footsteps of her friend by melting into her own seat. "Damn, that _is_ good. Good thing I got it then, huh?"

"… And to think, we could have had this eight _years_ ago."

"… But _instead_," said Sawako, "we had _each other_."

Nanako's blushed as well. "… Maybe we should start eating this, before it goes bad?"

"Y-Yeah, ok."

-o0o-

Both teachers left Daiwa Sushi about an hour and a half later sharing the feeling of bloated stomachs. Even between the two of them, the Emperor's Platter proved to be quite the challenge. In the end, though, they left the restaurant with a clean plate.

The two walked away from the restaurant and back toward the parking lot they had parked in, located a few blocks away. Stretching her hands over her head in a show of victory, Nanako seemed to have quite the content grin on her face. "Man!" she said aloud. "That was _really_ good! Thanks for suggesting the place, Sawako."

"No problem," she said back. "I just wanted it to be like when we were _younger_, when we were university students…"

"… Well, you overlooked one thing, then."

"Oh? And what's _that_?" asked Sawako.

"… Well, _you_, Sawako… You weren't _wild_ like you once were-"

Nanako suddenly gasped with the feel of a hand grabbing each side of her waist. With a simultaneous push and pull of opposite hands, Kuroi was spun around 180o and was now face to face with Sawako, who then wrapped her arms _completely_ around Kuroi's waist and pressed themselves together. With their noses now only a few inches apart and Sawako grinning rather devilishly, the couple received glances from the passersby.

"So you want it _wild_," Sawako whispered into Kuroi's ear, "is that it?"

"S-Sawako, people are staring at us," Nanako whispered back.

"Forget them- So, you wanna see me as _wild_ Sawako again?"

"… Actually, I kind of do… I mean, I know you can't act and dress the way you did around your school, but… Maybe just for one last time?"

Yamanaka leaned forward to kiss Kuroi on her forehead. "For _you_, Nanako, of course."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Ok, short chapter, I know. Not much I can say about that.


	3. Rebellion

Chapter 3

At the start of the day, Nanako Kuroi took her rightful place at the head of her class, standing behind her desk. "Alright everyone, please take your seats. I'm gonna do attendance." Ms. Kuroi then proceeded to go down the names. All went well until she reached a _certain_ name. "Izumi?" Where there came no response from her seat, she lifter her gaze from the attendance sheet to see that indeed her seat was empty. "Izumi...? Guess she's absent today-"

The sliding door to the classroom suddenly shot open, revealing a near out of breath Konata Izumi on the other side. "Wait!" she yelled. "I'm not late. I'm here!"

"Ah, _there_ you are Izumi," Kuroi greeter her, sporting a certain grin. "So, what's your excuse _today_?"

"Not an excuse," Konata corrected, "an explanation."

Crossing her arms across her chest in a show of skepticism, Nanako allowed her student to dispense with her words. "You see," she began, "a girl bumped into me in front of the shopping mall. Then, the girl grabbed me by the hand and we suddenly started running. And when I listened to what she had to say, she apparently had stolen a Taiyaki and was running away. So I thought to myself '_Why do I have to be involved with this._' But I didn't have much of a choice at that point, so in an attempt to hide, we ran into the nearest café and-"

WHAM!

"Nice try, Izumi," Kuroi said to her student, "but not only is that excuse a _complete_ rip-off, you've used it already!"

"I have?" asked Konata as she rubbed the new bump on her head.

"Yeah, you _did_, now just take your seat already!"

Konata did as she was instructed and took her seat near the back of the room, Nanako then finishing up the attendance with no other incident. "Ok, would everyone please open their history books to page 214. We're gonna pick up where we left off yesterday." She paused to allow the students to find the page. "Today, we're gonna start on the Edo period. First off, who can tell me the first ruler of the Tokugawa shogunate that ruled during the beginning years of the Edo period?"

Naturally, Miyuki Takara was the first to raise her hand. "Anyone _else_?" asked Nanako. Where her response was silence, she finally called on Miyuki to answer. "Ok, Takara, let's hear it."

The bespectacled girl stood up from her chair. "The first leader," she stated, "or 'shogun' was Tokugawa leyasu. He ruled _as_ shogun from the years 1603-1605. Even after he became a retired shogun, or 'ogoshu,' he continued to be a successful leader, such as leading the Siege of Osaka, until he passed away at the age of 73."

"… Uh, thank you, Takara," said Kuroi. "You can sit down now." Taking her seat, Kuroi could not help but voice a annoyed hum in the back of her head. "_Dang it, this chick's gonna upstage me, the **teacher**_." "Ok, let's get started: many historians peg the beginning of the Edo period with the creation of the Tokogawa shogunate in the year-"

Suddenly, the cell phone in Kuroi's pocket rang. The ringtone was a loop of the first eight notes of "J-E-N-O-V-A" from Final Fantasy VII. Her students gave little chuckles from their seats. Konata called out from the back of the room "Cool ringtone, sensei!"

Nanako quickly reached into her pocket and quickly pressed the red call button, not taking the time to read the screen to see who even called. "Sorry about that guys," she told her class. Guess I forgot to put the thing on vibrate. Now then, as I was-"

The phone rang again and, again, she pressed the red button without looking at the screen. "Guy doesn't get a hint, does he…? Now then, back to the-"

For a _third_ time, Nanako's cell phone rang. "Ok, who the heck keeps calling?" she exclaimed aloud as she finally retrieved the phone from her pocket and looked at the screen.

She recognized the number as Sawako's.

It took Nanako all her strength to stop her face from turning red. Slowly returning her gaze off her phone and to the class, each and every student was staring at her. "Uh… Looks like they're not going to quit. I'm gonna just take this call for a second. Everyone, please stay in your seats until I get back."

Walking to the door, Izumi asked from across the room "Who is it, Kuroi-sensei?"

"None of your business!" Nanako snapped back as she shut the door behind her. Now in the quiet and empty hallway, Nanako took a few steps away from the door of class 2-B before finally answering her ringing phone. "Sawako?" she whispered angrily into it, "what the heck are you-"

"About fucking time you picked up!" screamed a voice on the other end. "Where the fuck are you?"

"… Who is this?"

"You deaf? It's Sawako, ya idiot! Where the hell are you? I've been waiting here forever!"

"I- I'm in my class right now. I should be done in thirty- Wait, you're _waiting_? Where are you?"

"I'm in the fucking faculty parking lot! When the hell are you getting out?"

"T- Thirty minutes. Why? What's going on?"

"Just meet me in the parking lot when you get out, got it?" Before Nanako could ask another question, the other end of the line hung up. With the line disconnected, Nanako looked at the phone in thought. "_What was **that** about?_" she asked herself. "_She **knows** I have class at this time, so why would she call me at this time? And what was with all the swearing? She hasn't sworn like that since- **No**. She didn't actually do it, did she_?"

With those thoughts running through her head, she opened the door to class 2-B. "Sorry about that guys," said Nanako as she began to walk back into the room, "I needed to-"

As Nanako took a step forward, her leg hit something. Looking down to see what it was, she found Konata Izumi bent down and nearly sitting on the floor. She was in a position that, were the door _closed_, her right ear would have been placed _against_ it.

"Izumi," said Nanako, "what _are_ you doing on the floor?"

Konata seemed silent at first. "… I dropped something?" she replied.

"… Get in your freaking _seat_!" She was there before Nanako could blink twice. "Now then, _finally_, let's get back to our lesson…"

-o0o-

When Nanako's last class for the day finally ended, she was preoccupied with but one thought: seeing what Sawako was up to. Approaching the faculty parking lot, she searched for her friend's Scion xB but found nothing. Just then, as she was about to give up and leave, she heard a voice call from behind her. "Hey, bitch, over here!"

Kuroi whipped herself around to have presented before her the sight of a black 1968 Ford Mustang and a tough looking woman (dressed in leather jacket, faded ripped jeans, and black boots) leaning against it on her right arm. For an instant, Nanako thought she had went back in time, back to her university days, and that this sight was all a trick of her mind. But when the trick waved to her, she knew that what stood before her was real.

Step by step, Nanako walked over to the woman until she was within arm's length. She looked up and down her height, noticing her smaller details (thin black lines of hair dyed black and a black collar around her neck. "_It **looks** like Sawako_," she thought to herself, "_but… is this even real_?" To prove this, she reached forward and began poking the woman in her left shoulder.

"Uh, Nanako?" said the woman. "The hell are you doing?"

"… I'm not dreaming, am I?" she asked in reply. "This _is_ real and you _are_ Sawako, right?"

Sawako grabbed Kuroi's hand and gently pushed it aside. "Yeah," she stated in response, "and that's kind of annoying."

"B-But you look like what-"

"I use to? Remember, I said I haven't given up on my wild side _just _yet. I can be just a wild as I was when I was a student."

Nanako smiled at her confidence. "I see you kept the collar," she commented.

"You know it. Now come on, we gotta get to this place soon. Otherwise, it'll be too fucking full to get in."

"Ok- Wait, where are you taking me?" Kuroi asked.

"A show," Yamanaka simply replied.

-o0o-

Unbeknownst to our two teachers, at that same moment, they were being watched from afar. From a sidewalk that ran adjacent to the faculty parking lot, separated by a single chair-link fence, Konata, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and Kagami were walking away from the school together, hoping to catch an _early_ train back home. As they did, Konata could not help but notice the two lone people standing in the parking lot to her left. After a few seconds of looking, she suddenly recognized who both people were.

Konata grabbed at the arms of her friends and shook them. "Guys, guys!" she said excitedly. "Look over there!"

Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki turned their attention to where Izumi was frantically pointing. After a few seconds of looking, Kagami was the first to speak, deadpanning "So?"

"Ugh! Damn it, Kagami," Konata said back in frustration, "look who it is!"

"Hmm," said Tsukasa, "it looks like Kuroi-sensei and… um, I don't know who the other person is. She looks kind of scary."

"The other person," Konata then explained, "is Yamanaka-san!"

"Yamanaka-san?" repeated Kagami, "Who's that?"

"If I remember correctly," replied Miyuki, "Kuroi-sensei explained to us that she had a roommate in college named Sawako Yamanaka. Remember, Hiiragi-san?"

"… Oh yeah," then said the pigtailed girl, "I remember now… Isn't Yamanaka-san a _teacher_ though? She doesn't _look_ like one."

"This is the first time you've ever seen her," stated Konata. "When _I_ first saw her after the sports festival, she was dressed like a teacher _then_. _Now_ she looks like some biker-chick. Maybe she's cosplaying or something… Whoa, look at her car!"

Miyuki examined it from her far distance. "A 1968 Ford Mustang," she explained. "It looks well kept for its age."

The four girls then watched as Yamanaka-san got into the driver seat of the Mustang (with Kuroi-sensei getting into the passenger seat,) and the car roared to life and sped off and out of their view. "Where do you think _those_ two are going?" Konata asked implyingly.

"Who cares," Kagami dismissed. "Come on, we gotta get moving if we're gonna catch the early train home." As Kagami continued down the sidewalk, the others quickly following suit, Konata continued to ponder aloud.

"Maybe they're doing something _together_… Oh man, this could be good."

-o0o-

At nearly the exact same time, the members of Houkago Tea Time were enduring a rather routine yet enjoyable practice. Finishing up another on their songs, their second song for that day, the girls once more stood in their respective places, relishing in the silence that followed their performance.

This time, the silence was broken by Mio who, upon looking at the clock and seeing that it turned to 2:30 on the button, she knew a certain teacher was not to show today. "Guess Sawa-chan's not gonna be at today's practice, huh?" Her tone was not one of disappointment, per se, but merely one that stated face.

"Guess so," agreed Azusa, who gave a glance to the clock as well. "Wonder what she's doing?"

"Probably her usual duties as a teacher. She can't _always_ hang around here with us-"

Yui suddenly shot her right hand into the air, catching the attention of the others. "_I_ know where she is!" she gleefully declared.

"Y- You _do_?" asked Ritsu. "Where is she?"

"… Actually, I don't know _where_ she is, but I know what she's _doing_."

"…Ok, so what is she _doing_?"

"… _Actually_, I don't know what she's doing, but-"

"Damn it, Yui, just tell us _something_!"

Yui leaned back from Ritsu's display of impatience. "O- Ok… Well, on the way to the music room, I bumped into Sawa-chan as she was heading out the door. I asked her where she was going in such a rush. She said that she was going out tonight with a friend: her roommate from her university days."

"Roommate…" Azusa repeated aloud. "… You mean Kuroi-san, right?"

"Yep. I didn't get to ask what she was gonna do before she headed off."

Hearing all this, Ritsu gave a "Hmm" of thought. "Going out with _Kuroi-san_…" she pondered aloud.

This caused her friend Mio to give Ritsu a skeptical eye. "Oh come on, you're not on _that_ still, are you?"

"Hey, I'm just keeping all possibilities open here." Ritsu defended.

"It sounds more like you _want_ Sawa-chan and Kuroi-san to be- Well, you know."

"Maybe… But wouldn't that be cool if they were?"

Expecting an answer, Ritsu was instead met with the silent stares of the four other band members. "No, Ritsu," Mio finally replied, "we don't _want_ Sawa-chan to be _anything_…"

"…But what if she is?" Mugi suddenly asked.

"Then… I _guess_ we should let her…"

-o0o-

The look on Nanako's face could only be described a pure bliss. Sitting in the passenger seat of Sawako's Mustang, hearing the roar of the engine and feeling the vibrations of the chassis as it sped up sent Kuroi into a state of euphoria she had not felt in a long while. Sawako seemed to enjoy seeing her friend like this and took every opportunity possible to cause the engine to roar.

When the two finally reached their destination, for Nanako, it seemed too soon. Finally reaching a parking lot, Sawako turned the engine, turned to her friend and stated "Were here-"

Nanako seemed melded to her seat, an almost permanent smile on her face. "So soon?" she asked dreamily.

"Yeah, now get your ass out. We don't wanna miss the show."

"You know, you never told me what we're seeing."

"You'll see soon enough. Follow me."

Nanako followed her friend out of the car and across the street. Looking down said street, Nanako could already see their destination. There stood a long line in front of a club. The sign above the door read "Rebellion."

"What's this?" Nanako asked her friend. "Another 'Iron Maiden?'"

"Sort of," Yamanaka replied as she grabbed her friend by her wrist and lead her across the street and to the front of the line. Upon approaching, the bouncer, a giant of a man dressed in a black suit and dark sunglasses took one look at the couple and smiled.

"Ah, Sawa-chan!" he greeted warmly. "How have you been?"

"Fine, fine," she replied with a smile of her own. "Hey, this is the chick I've told you about: Nanako."

"_She told him about **me**_?" Nanako worriedly thought to herself.

The bouncer took a look at Sawako's companion and raised an eyebrow. "So _this_ is the famous Nanako, huh? Well, nice to finally meet you."

"_Famous? What the hell had Sawa-chan been telling people? If it's anything too explicit-"_

"So," said Sawako, "you gonna let us in or not?"

"Yeah, sure thing. Enjoy yourselves you two," said the bouncer as he opened the rope and allowed the two teachers to walk in ahead of everyone else in the line. Once inside, Nanako's ears seemed bombarded with the sound of heavy metal music. The club itself seemed split into two halves: the right was the dance floor where against the right wall was a stage, most likely for the performances later that night. The left half, raised up a few feet from the dance floor, was the lounge and bar.

Leading Nanako to the bar, the two ordered their drinks: both ordered gin and tonics. Taking a seat next to each other in a booth, they drank their drinks in initial silence. That is, until Nanako spoke.

"So, what was _that_ about?" she asked Sawako, speaking loud enough as to be heard over the music.

"What was _what_ about?" she replied.

"You told the _bouncer_ about us? What _else_ does he know?"

"Oh, don't worry about him," assured Sawako. "That's just Takashi. He may _look_ tough, but he's really just a big pushover. I've been going here for a while so we basically became friends. Don't worry, he's not one to start blabbing about us."

"But what is someone from our schools finds out? We could get into serious crap."

Sawako put her right arm around Nanako's shoulder in reassurance. "You _really_ think that anyone from _our_ schools will come _here_?"

Kuroi knew her friend had a point. No other faculty member of her school seemed like the kind of person that would come to a place like this. Then again, _she_ didn't seem like the person to come here, yet here she was… "I guess you're right," Nanako admitted.

"Well, since you agree," said Sawako as she placed her drink on the table, "we won't have to worry about being caught if we do stuff."

Before Nanako could even ask as to what her friend meant by "stuff," Sawako had already reached her hand across Kuroi's right cheek, turned her head in Yamanaka's direction, and brought her lips against hers. Nanako wanted to be excited, but she seemed too busy looking around her to see if anyone was watching them.

She was unexpectedly pleased to find that the most she and Sawako received were quick, meaningless glances. Now sure that there could be no repercussions, she returned Sawako's kiss with the introduction of her tongue.

When their lips finally broke, an announcement came over the club's speakers. "_The first band will perform in five minutes. The first band will perform in five minutes_."

Exclaiming an "Excellent!" Sawako quickly downed the remainder of her drink and begged Nanako to join her on the dance floor. Doing the same with her drink, the two got up from their seat and headed to the other half of the club. Already, the floor was crowded with people, anxious to see the first performance.

When the first band took stage, they wasted no time in blasting the speakers into their first song. It seemed in an instant that everyone's hands were thrown into the air as they banged their heads to the music. Nanako would have done the same, but her attention at that time (and much throughout the night) was not on the bands that performed.

Rather, it was focused on the woman who stood next to her: Sawako…

-o0o-

The two finally left "Rebellion" sometime after midnight. Sawako maintained a grin on her face the entire ride back to Nanako's apartment, Nanako as well. Parking in the back and walking the three flights of stairs up to Kuroi's apartment, the two entered and Nanako locked the door behind them.

"Man!" Sawako exclaimed as she tore off her jacket and threw it on the couch. "That was great show. Best one I've seen in a while." She turned around to ask if her friend agreed. "What did you think, Na-"

Her words were silenced when Nanako suddenly threw herself against her friend, wrapping her arms around her waist, and Kuroi's lips pressed _firmly_ against hers. Taking control of _both_ their bodies, Nanako lead her friend to the door of her bedroom, open it, and push her friend backwards, causing her to fall onto the bedspread. Sawako suddenly found herself beneath the blonde lover.

There, Nanako's display of affection continued as their lips connected once more. When Nanako finally broke lip contact a fill two minutes later, Sawako gave an involuntary gasp for air. Nanako lowered her head slightly and she began to kiss up and down the length of Yamanaka's neck. Finally able to speak, Sawako asked breathily, "Damn, Kuroi, what's gotten into you?"

Nanako lifted her head and hovered it above Sawako's. Her green eyes seemed to shimmer in amore. "_You_ did, Sawa-chan," she replied. "You did all that for _me_: the clothes, the car, taking me to that place… It was like I was eighteen years old again, and it fell like I was falling in love with you all over again…

You have no idea how much I love you right now."

As Nanako brought her mouth back down to Sawako's neck, she glided her hands down her lover's figure and onto her waist. "Oh, I think I get the picture," she said with a grin. "I'd do anything for you… _Otakuroi_."

Kuroi's head suddenly shot back up. "Ok, _that_ can stay in the past," she said.

Yamanaka smiled. "Agreed."

Nanako leaned down again and the two kissed once more.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Just a small fact: Nanako's ringtone? I have that ringtone. :)


	4. Tactical Espionage Action

Chapter 4

It had been about a week and a half since the couple's bonding moment at Rebellion (and to be more specific, what occurred _after_) and _still_ Nanako seemed to have lifted spirits. She had told Sawako on many occasions since their reuniting that she loved her, but on that night in particular, it felt like she was telling her for the first time. It left inside her that magical feeling she had when she _first_ admitted her love.

In-between classes, Nanako liked to take short breaks in the courtyard in the center of the school. Though they were opened to everyone, not many students or faculty used the courtyard as a way to get from place to place (also the fact that the days were getting colder probably played a factor as well. Sitting on a stone bench, Kuroi could enjoy the silence of the outside.

Suddenly, her pocket started to play "J-E-N-O-V-A." Retrieving her mobile, Nanako quickly brought it to her ear and answered.

"Hello?... Hey, Sawako, how's it going?... Hmm. I'm kind of swamped during the school days, but I think I'm free on Sunday… What, _another_ Daiwa?... Dafe du Kohii? Ok, I don't know a lot of French, but even _I_ know that name's redundant… Um, yeah, I think I can make it… 13:00, got it. See you then…" Nanako's eyes suddenly widened. Giving a quick around to see that no one else was with earshot, she then whispered into the phone "_I love you, too. Bye_."

When the call ended, Nanako quickly shoved the mobile back into her pocket. She voiced a deep sigh of the chilled outside air, hoping in vein that it would help fade the blush on her cheeks she _knew_ she had. Finally returning to her feet, she made her way back inside.

Unbeknownst to our history teacher, her entire conversation was overheard and overwatched by a certain blue-haired student.

-o0o-

"Hey, what's up? It's me," said Sawako into her cellphone as she stood in an empty hallway of her own school. "Fine, fine. Say, you free anytime this week?... Figures. Well, that's fine with me. I had this place in mind… Ha ha, good one. But no, I'm not _that_ cruel. Actually, it's a small sidewalk café in my town. It's called 'Café du Kohii.'… Yeah, tell _that_ to the owner. So, can you come?... How about 13:00?... Great. I love you… Bye."

Slipping _her_ cellphone into her coat pocket, Sawako voiced a satisfied sigh of her own, knowing that yet another day together between her and Kuroi had been set. As she walked down the hallway to her class, a certain student of hers peeked her head around the corner of a wall, grinning at the fact that she had overheard such an _interesting_ conversation…

-o0o-

When lunchtime came around, Konata Izumi could not wait for the final member of her lunch table to arrive. Her anxiousness must have shown on her face for at one point in her wait, Tsukasa, who sat across from her, asked her blue haired friend "Um, what's up, Kona-chan?"

"Sorry," she replied, "but I can't tell you yet. I have to wait until your sister gets here until I reveal the big news!"

"Onee-chan?" Tsukasa asked.

"What is this all about, Izumi-san?" asked Miyuki.

"Can't say _yet_! Gotta wait for Kagami!"

A few moments later, the supposed guest of honor arrived. Taking a seat across from her sister and to the left of Konata, Kagami could not help but notice the anxious disposition of Konata. "Okaaay… Sis, what's wrong with _her_?" Kagami asked Tsukasa while pointing to Konata.

"Oh man!" answered Konata for her. "Glad you showed up! I got amazing news to tell y-"

"If it's about an anime, manga, doujin, or any of that sort of crap, I don't wanna hear it."

"Don't worry, Kagamin, _this_ is IRL!"

"… Don't know what 'IRL' means, but fine. Let's hear it."

"Ok, everyone listen up! So, I was in the courtyard and I overheard a phone conversation of Kuroi-sensei and-"

"Ok, already don't wanna hear it," Kagami interrupted as she opened her boxed lunch and began to eat.

"Oh come on, Kagamin, this is _important_! Just hear me out, will ya?"

Voicing a sigh, Kagami relented with a "Whatever, just make it quick."

"Ok," continued Konata, "so I overheard a phone conversation between Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san. They said that they're going out on Sunday at 13:00 at a place called 'Café du Kohii." Miyuki giggled at the name, recognizing, like Nanako, the redundancy of it. "Guys, this is the perfect time to see if I'm right!"

"Right about _what_?" asked Miyuki.

"That Kuroi-san and Yamanaka-san are le-"

"Ok," Kagami once more interrupted, "before you finish that word, let me say this: Konata, I think you're obsessed over this whole thing. I mean, I've heard all you have to say about those two and, frankly, there's not much there."

"But I have a gut feeling for stuff like this!" Konata defended.

"And we're suppose to just go on _that_?"

… Ok, so Kagamin wants to prove me _wrong_, is _that_ it?"

"No, I just want you to drop this whole stupid charade!"

"Then I got a plan: we follow Kuroi-sensei as she meets with Yamanaka-san and-"

"Wait. You're not talking about _spying_ on your teacher, are you?" Kagami deadpanned.

"Face it, Kagamin, it's the _only_ way. We gotta see Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san together. If nothing happens, I promise I'll drop the whole thing."

"… You promise?" Kagami asked.

Shooting her right arm upward into a right angle and slamming her left hand into a fist against her flat chest, Konata boastfully (if not unnecessarily) declared "I _promise!_"

Kagami could only sigh at her friend's odd enthusiasm. "Fine then. I'll go on your stupid spying thing."

"Excellent!" exclaimed Izumi, who then turned her eyes to Kagami's sister. "What about you, Tsukasa? You wanna join in?"

"Umm… I guess as long as one-chan's going, I guess I'll go," she timidly replied.

"What about _you_, Yuki-chan?"

Miyuki paused before she gave her response. "Well, it _would_ be interesting to see if Izumi-san 'gut feelings' are correct. If not, it'll simply be interesting to see Kuroi-sensei interact with someone _other_ than her students… Sure, I'll go as well."

"All right!" Konata yelled in triumph. "Operation 'Kuroi Surveillance' is now a-go! Ok, everyone listen up. Here's the plan…"

-o0o-

Later that day, in the music room of Sakura High, four members of the light music club awaited the arrival of the final fifth: Ritsu. Yui, Azusa, and Mugi sat at the table and enjoyed their tea and cake. Mio, who had already finished hers, instead sat on the bench, strumming a low bass line.

Finally, the final member arrived, crashing the door open and panting heavy breaths, as if she had just completed running a 10k marathon. "Guys!" she blurted out. "You gotta hear this!"

"Oh, _you're_ here," Mio said in a mockingly calm tone. "Maybe we can start practicing _now_?"

"Yeah, sure, but you all gotta hear this! It's the greatest thing in the world!"

Though her black haired friend gave a roll of her eyes in response to Ritsu's enthusiasm, Mugi seemed more interested. "What is it?" she asked.

Ritsu quickly shut the door behind her, ran to the table and took a seat. "Ok, so earlier today, I overheard a phone conversation of Sawa-chan's and-"

"You mean you _eavesdropped_?" Mio interrogated.

"Same difference. But yeah, I hear her talking to someone and I think Sawa-chan's going on a date with someone!"

In an instant, everyone's eyes shot toward Ritsu. Even Mio took the effort to turn herself around to look at her friend. "What?" she asked in deadpan.

"A date?" repeated Yui. "How are you sure?"

"Because the last thing she said to him was 'I love you.'"

That _really_ got everyone's attention, causing the four other of the band to jump up from their respective seats and all exclaim in unison "I _love_ you!"

"Yep, that's what she said. Hear it with my own two ears."

"Did you hear the other person's name?" Mio quickly asked as she ran over to the table and dropped herself into a seat. "Did you?"

"Nope, sorry. I didn't hear the other guy's name."

"Dang… Wait, other _guy_? You think it's a guy and not a girl?"

"Of course I do!" Ritsu defended. "Why would you say that?"

"Not a few weeks ago, you were accusing Sawa-chan of being an 'L-word' because she went to an all girls university, remember?"

"Oh, _that_? I was just screwing with her that time, just to tick her off. I don't _really_ think she's a lesbian."

"Oh… Well, good."

"So anyways," continued Tainaka, "I overheard where the two are gonna meet up later this week: Café du Kohii at 13:00 on Sunday. This is the_ perfect_ chance to see who this mystery guy is!"

"Umm," chimed in Azusa, "isn't that sort of spying?"

"_Maybe…_ But who cares? Don't you wanna see what kind of guy Sawa-chan is going out with? Maybe he's a _wild_ guy, like how she was when she was in college. Or _maybe_ she went with a studious, teacher type?"

Yui suddenly shot a hand into the air. "Count me in!" the proudly declared. "Let's spy on Sawa-chan!"

"All right!" exclaimed Ritsu in return. "What about the rest of you, eh? Wanna join us?"

Slowly, one by one, the rest of the members of the light music club gave nods to show their commitment. First came, Mugi, then Azusa, then finally, at greater length than the others _combined_, Mio nodded.

"Then it's settled!" Ritsu declared. "Everyone, meet in front of the arcade at 12:00. It's only a block or so away from the café, so we'll be able to see Sawa-chan when she shows up. No one be late!"

-o0o-

Konata's philosophy on "obsessions" is rather simple: _nothing_ is overdoing it. With that mentality, she waited at the foot of the steps of the train stop in the town of their intended "sneaking mission." She had been waiting there for an _hour's_ time. Remember: _nothing_ is overdoing it.

Her attire was befitting the weather for the day which, as it were, was seasonally chilly (given that winter was not far off.) When the next train came at 12:03 on the button, Konata glues her eyes to the stairs, expecting her three accomplices to come walking down any second from then. Indeed they did. Down the steps came Miyuki, Tsukasa, and Kagami, all dressed in similar attire that matched the weather. When they all saw the blue haired girl waiting for them at the bottom of the steps, they all wondered to themselves "_When did **she** get here_?"

"Glad you all followed up and came!" Konata greeted to her three friends.

"Yeah…" said Kagami slowly. "I forget: How the _hell_ did you convince me to take the train to another town _just_ to spy on our sensei again?"

"I believe," answered Miyuki, "it was to prove Izumi-san wrong about her suspicions of Kuroi-san and Yamanaka-san being together… right?"

"… Oh yeah," the pigtailed girl then groaned, as if unpleased to come to such a conclusion.

"Now that the team has been brought together, Operation "Kuroi Survalence" can now begin!"

"Stop calling it that!" the elder Hiiragi protested. "Besides, Kuroi-sensei doesn't even show up for at least another _hour_. Why did you make us get here so freakin _early_?"

"So we'd be _sure_ not to miss Kuroi-sensei," Konata explained. "… So, I'm gonna be in that manga store across the street until th-"

Her escape plan was suddenly cut short with the feeling of a hand grabbing at her from the back of her collar and yanking her backwards and onto her rear-end. "_You're_ not going anywhere," Kagami (the one who grabbed Izumi by the collar) stated. "If we gotta wait out here in the cold, then damn it, _you_ are too!"

"Ouch. Fine," Konata relented as she rubbed the new bruise of her left cheek.

Taking a seat on a single wooden bench, the four Ryoo High students were forced to endure what would be a rather _long_ wait. When Konata retrieved a DS from her pocket, Kagami instantly took it away from her, telling her blue haired friend that she needs to be "just as miserable as the rest of us." However, when she did not object to Miyuki retrieving a small novel from her coat pocket, Konata made a point to point out the apparent injustice. Kagami's reasoning was "Because reading is _productive_!"

After what seemed three hours of wait and all their cellphones displayed the time of 12:58, Tsukasa, finally taking to her feet, exclaimed "There she is!" as she pointed to a spot across the street. Indeed, there was their teacher, Nanako Kuroi, _also_ dressed appropriately for the climate.

The rest of the girls shot to their feet. "Ok, target in sight," Konata began to narrate. "Everyone, be sure to follow at a distance: close enough as to not lose sight but far enough as not to give away our presence. Team, roll out!"

With Konata taking apparent leadership of this operation, the four students darted across the street and began to follow their blonde teacher, making sure they were within at least twenty-five feet of distance. They did not need to follow her long before the history teacher reached her intended destination.

"Café du Kohii" was a sidewalk café that had what no others in this town could claim to have: year-round outdoor service. In a rectangular section built in front of the front door of the café itself, a section walled-offed by trellises (from which thick vines grew off of) sat a number of tables and chairs. The walls protected the seating from most winds and unless there was heavy snow or rain, one could always be served from there. At this time of the year, the green leaves of the veins were now turning their fiery colors of autumn. When winter would come, they would be no more than entangled, brown sticks.

Entering through the entrance in the front, Kuroi took a seat at a table in the relative middle. Sneaking in behind her, the Ryoo High students crept their way to a table located as far to the left as possible. Quickly bringing the menus over their faces, the four girls watched as their teacher waited for her friend to arrive.

-o0o-

At that exact same moment, a similar operation was taking place. The target: Sawako Yamanaka. The pursuers: Team "K-On." Trailing from a similar distance, the four Sakura High students darted between pieces of cover: light posts, phone booths, other pedestrians. Though it seemed to keep them hidden from their teacher, to the other bystanders, it made the girls stick out like sore thumbs.

"Ok, we're doing well so far," commented Yui aloud, making sure to speak in a whisper. Sawa-chan's nearing her destination… Right?"

"Yep," answered Mugi. "The café's just a few blocks away."

Once more darting from object to object, the girls followed their auburn haired friend down the sidewalk until the trellises of the café came into view. Quickly realizing that they would not be able to get inside without being seem, Ritsu pointed to a section of the trellises on the right side. There grew no vines there, so they would be able to peek inside.

The girls rushed over to that section and, crouching down on the balls of their feet, all five managed to squeeze their heads close enough to see through the one opening. Now seeing the inside, they watched as Sawako entered and, to everyone's confusion, waved hello to another woman. "What the heck?" whispered Ritsu. "She's not going out on a date with a guy. She's just- On my _God_!"

The students watched in shock as Sawako's friend, a blond haired woman of about the same age, stood up from her seat and the two leaned over the table to greet each other with a discreet _kiss_ before sitting back down.

A simultaneous gasp from all members of Houkago Tea Time conveyed their shock. For a few minutes after, they watched in dead silence as Sawako and her friend began to engage in conversation (from their distance, they couldn't hear their words.) After what seemed an eternity, Mio was the first to speak, her voice shaking with stun.

"W-What the-… Did Sawa-chan just _kiss_ that other woman?... Ritsu?"

Ritsu's shock mirrored that of her black haired friend. "I- I was just joking about Sawa-chan being gay before but… Jesus, I didn't think I was that close to the truth."

"Wait a second," added Azusa, "maybe she's European? Don't they kiss when they greet each other?"

"They _do_," answered Mugi, "but it's usually on the cheek, not on the _lips_… Besides, she looks 100% Japanese to me."

The four who spoke then remained silent, waiting for the final _fifth_, Yui, to speak her thoughts. When there came nothing, Mio, Ritsu, Mugi, and Azusa turned their gaze off of the couple and onto Yui. Yui's eyes, shimmering with wondrous fascination, seemed immovable from Sawako and her friend. Her mouth hung slightly open from awe.

"Y- Yui?" asked Azusa, who gave her senpai a nudge of her shoulder.

"They look so _cuuuute_ together!" Yui said dreamily, her eyes still fixated on the two women. "Don't you think they're cute, guys?" Everyone seemed hesitant to answer, choosing instead to remain silent. "Azu-nyan, aren't they cute together?"

She now had no choice but to answer. "I… I _guess_ they do," she whispered back as she did her best to hide a blush of embarrassment.

Mio gave Ritsu a light jab of her elbow. "Looks like you _were_ right," she commented to her friend.

"Yeah, no kidding," she said back. "Maybe I should listen to my instincts more often…"

"I thought you said you were _joking_ all along."

"… I lied."

-o0o-

At a table not too far away, similar reactions were being had from the students of Ryoo High.

"Oh my gosh," whispered Tsukasa, "did Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san just… _kiss_?"

"Y-Yeah," replied her sister. "I've never seen Kuroi-sensei close to _anyone_, no less another woman, but… Jeez, this is too weird…"

"Hmm," Miyuki chimed in. "This _is_ rather unexpected. I never would have pegged Kuroi-san to be that kind of person…"

"… THIS IS TOTALLY FREAKIN AMAZING!" blurted Konata, effectively killing the established mood, causing all her friends to jump in their seats.

"Ah! Damn it, Konata!" her pigtailed friend snapped back, forcing herself to scream in a whisper. "Do you _always_ have to do that?"

"Sorry, but this is just too awesome! I was right all along: Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san _are_ going out! And from the looks of things, they are _serious_." She spoke that last part while dawning her cat-like grin.

"Yeah, maybe," said Kagami hesitantly, returning her gaze back to the couple. "Let's just watch and see what else happens."

-o0o-

"So, what are you gonna get?" Sawako asker her blonde lover from across the table.

Nanako gave a long look the menu only to come up with nothing. "Uh, there's so much to choose from and half this stuff I don't even recognize. You've been here, right?" Sawako nodded in reply. "Then _you_ order something."

"Ok then, fine." When the waiter arrived a moment later, Sawako gave her order. "Two coffees with a shot of butterscotch schnapps, please."

As the waiter wrote down their orders, took their menus and left, Sawako turned back to her friend to see that she had a raised eyebrow aimed at her. "A little _early_ to start getting toasted, isn't it?" she asked.

"What? Has my little Kuroi lost her edge?" Yamanaka mocked back.

"Ha! Not a chance! Alright, I see your challenge and I accept."

"Nanako, relax. We're not trying to outdo each other (not like we _use_ to do, anyway.) Just enjoy the drink."

"Fine, fine," she dismissed lightheartedly. As the two waited for their drinks, a thought crept into Nanako's head; a thought concerning Sawako. The second it _did_ pop into her head, Kuroi smacked herself in the temple once. "Jeez, I'm such an idiot!" she said aloud. "How did I not notice this earlier?"

"Notice what, Nanako?" asked Sawako.

"I feel stupid saying this but… This whole time we've been back together, I haven't seen you lit a cigarette _once_. What, did you quit?"

"Yep," Sawako replied with a smile. 'I've been clean for five years now."

"Wow. I'm impressed. Good for you, Sawa-chan."

"Thanks… Uh, Nanako, why do you keep looking to your left?"

"Well… I think there's someone looking at us through the veins over there."

Sawako pivoted herself around in her seat and gave a detailed look at the veined wall behind her. "I don't see anyone," she commented.

"Hmm… Must be my imagination."

-o0o-

Konata, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and Kagami continued to watch from afar as their teacher and her friend continued to drink their coffees and talk. Being the distance they were from them, they could not make out their words. After about an hour or so, the couple paid their bill, got up from their table, and preceded out of the dining area.

"They're leaving," commented Tsukasa. "We're gonna keep following, right?" she asked Konata.

"Not just yet," she replied. "Give them a few more seconds of distance before we- What the… Holy crap, guys, look!"

Konata excitedly pointed to the front entrance to the dining area. At that moment, five high school girls passed in front of their view, moving in the direction of Kuroi and Yamanaka. "I know who those girls were!" Konata stated.

"You do?" asked Kagami.

"Yeah; they're Houkago Tea Time! They played at the sports festival a few weeks ago, remember?"

"Really? I didn't see them."

"I wonder what _they're_ doing here? Let's go ask them!" Konata suddenly leapt from her seat and ran out of the dining area, the other quickly following suit. Catching the band walking down the sidewalk, Nanako and Sawako a fair distance ahead of them, Konata called out to five girls. "Hey! Houkago Tea Time!"

-o0o-

Hearing the name of their band suddenly uttered, the five members of said band whipped around to be met with the sight of four high school girls (perhaps no more than a year older than themselves) approaching them. The girl that stood in the front (a short girl with long, blue hair) was the first to address them. "Hey, what's up?" she asked casually.

"Uh… Hi?" replied the lead singer Yui in a cautious manner. "Uh, how did you know our band's name? How did you know we were a _band_?"

"You guys performed at Ryoo High a couple of weeks ago. We all go there (though _I_ was the only one who saw you perform.) You guys rocked!"

"Cool, we have fan girls!" exclaimed Ritsu. "What was your favorite song?"

"Umm… I don't know, they were _all_ awesome!"

"He he, thanks. Well, no to be rude, but we gotta go. We're following-" Ritsu shot the gaze of her eyes down the street, toward the direction where Sawako and her friend went, only to see that they were _nowhere_ to be seen. "Crap. Did you see where Sawa-chan went?" The other four members of the band answered with silence. "Damn it, we lost them!"

"And _we_ lost Kuroi!" seethed Kagami. "This whole day has been a complete waste of time! Thanks _a lot_, Konata!"

"Oh relax, Kagamin, it wasn't a _complete_ waste. We got to see Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san in a little 'tete a tete amoureux,' right?"

"Wait, wait, hold on!" interrupted Mio. "You know that blonde woman? You know Sawa-chan?"

"Yeah. That was Nanako Kuroi; my, Tsukasa's, and Miyuki's homeroom teacher," Konata explained, pointing to each of the girls as she named them off. "I assume Sawa-chan's the one was _with_ Kuroi-sansei, right? Well, I met _her_ with Kuroi-sensei during the sports festival.

For some reason, I _knew _there was something between them-"

Konata was cut short with a jab from Kagami's elbow. "She didn't _know_ anything," she corrected. "She gets into otaku fantasies and just _goes_ with them."

"Well," said Yui, "we had _no_ _idea_ Sawa-chan was… _gay_. This is all such a shock… But I still think they're still adorable together."

"Ah _ha_, a fellow believer!" said Konata.

With both their intended targets lost, the nine girls ended up talking amongst one another for quite some time. When it eventually reached the time for _both_ groups to split up and return home, they quickly exchanged cell numbers amongst each other. "Good, now if there are any developments, we can quickly tell each other about it," commented Izumi.

"What do you mean 'developments,' Izumi-san?" asked Mugi.

"With our combined forces, we can help our teachers get _closer_!"

"You want to _help_?" asked Mio tentatively. "Do they really _need_ our help?"

"If we want to see the next event trigger anytime soon, our intervention is needed!" The students of Sakura High gave Izumi blank looks, all wondering to themselves what the heck the girl just said. Noticing this, Konata quickly added "If you see anything important, just give me a call, ok?"

"Uh… sure," the band replied in unison.

"Well, we gotta head back now. Nice seeing you, Houkago Tea Time! Later!"

Houkago Tea Time waved goodbye as their four new friends began their walk back toward the train station. Once out of earshot, Mio was the first to comment. "They seemed nice… but that short one was kind of weird… I mean, it sounds like she _wants_ to have Sawa-chan and- Kuroi-san, was it?- get together."

"Well…" said Ritsu, "you _don't_?"

"No, it's not that! It's just… Well, if Sawa-chan's happy with Kuroi-san, maybe we shouldn't get in the way, you know?"

The others seemed to give concurring nods of their head. All except for Yui, who's head seemed to droop downward. "Tired?" asked Azusa.

"Sleeeepy," Yui replied in a befitting voice.

"Maybe it's time we all headed back?"

When all seemed to agree, the light music club split up and walked their individual ways home.

-o0o-

Later that same night, after Sawako had to leave early to attend to school business, Nanako finally set off to complete a certain task. She had, due to sheer nervousness, put of this particular task for atleast a month's time. But today, Nanako had obtained the courage to _finally_ enter a _specific_ shop and order a _certain_ item.

"Um, could I get that engraved?" Nanako asked the person behind the counter.

Lifting her eyes from the form, she smiled back and replied "Of course we can. For an extra 3500 yen, we can engrave up to fifteen characters. More than that, however, will cost by the letter."

"That's fine, it won't be _that_ long."

Placing the pen down near the line entitled "Engraving," the woman asked "What would you like it to say?"

"Two names. First, _my_ name: Nanako."

"Ok…" said the woman as she copied the name down.

"Put a plus sign in-between the names. No spaces, please."

"Ok… And the second name?"

"… Sawako."

The pen stopped writing. The woman's eyes slowly lifted to face the blonde that stood before her. "That's a _woman's_ name, right?"

"Y-Yeah… So?"

"_So_… I'm glad for you, mame."

"… You _are_?" Kuroi asked in disbelief.

"Of course," she replied gleefully as she wrote the two names onto the form. "I wish _I_ had the courage to do what you're doing. I've been with the same girl for _years_ now and I haven't had the courage to ask her yet.

There, it's all set. You can expect it in the mail within a week or so."

"Thank you _so_ much," Kuroi thanked the woman with a bow.

"No problem. I hope it goes well between you two," she said back with a wink.

With a sudden renew of energy, Kuroi walked away from the jewelry kiosk with her head held high. "_Ok, it's all set now_," she told herself. "_One week from now, I can **finally** ask her…_"

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Just like the last one, the _forth_ chapter is the longest yet. Why is that? Just coincidence?

Anyways, the girls of both shows have finally met face to face to find that their teachers are involved with each other. Will they play more roles in the future? Time shall tell...

Also, "Cafe du Kohii" essentially translates to "Coffee Cafe." Redundant, is it not?


	5. We Know

Chapter 5

The next day, during lunch period at Ryoo High, our four girls seemed to exhibit something rarely held between them: silence. While fragments of conversation were exchanged between them, for the _most_ part, they were without words. Even when Tsukasa's older sister, Kagami, joined the table, there was still silence held.

They were all thinking of the events of yesterday: how they witnessed their teacher, Nanako Kuroi, _kiss_ another woman, Sawako Yamanaka. The footage of the event was in infinite loop in their heads. It rendered conversation amongst them a near impossibility.

"… So…" said Tsukasa, attempting to break the hush.

"… Yeah…" replied her sister.

Then, as luck (or inevitability, depending on who views it) would have it, Konata was the one to _finally_ break the stillness between the four of them.

"So, how are we gonna help them out?" she asked the group gleefully.

Three pairs of eyes slowly turned to the blue haired girl, showing great confusion from each. "… What?" Kagami deadpanned.

"How are we gonna help out Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san?" Izumi explained. "We gotta do _something_."

"We don't have to do _anything_," the pigtailed girl shot back. "I mean, they seem happy enough as is… Besides, how could _we_ help?"

"I'll _tell_ you how: we trigger new events, raise new flags, and reach the _ending_!"

"… Um, Izumi-san," chimed in Miyuki, "I'm afraid I have no idea what you just said."

"It's simple, guys. We need to take the role of 'Game Master' in Kuroi-sensei and Yamanaka-san's relationship. We need to create an event that will bring them closer, or at the least, bring them to situations that would trigger some flags."

"Ok, enough with the 'flags' and 'events' talk. It's starting to hurt my head," groaned Kagami. "Listen, Konata, I think it would be best if we stayed _out_ of this. We weren't even supposed to be there yesterday to see… _that_… so when we see Kuroi-sensei next, let's just act as if we say nothing. Ok?" she asked everyone.

Tsukasa and Miyuki gave a unison nod Konata, however, gave a "hmph," which Kagami took as a "Yes."

"Besides," Kagami continued, "this _isn't_ a game. This is… real…"

As if on cue, Nanako retuned back into the class, sporting a rather uplifted disposition, much like she did before. Noticing the girls still sitting at their table, she decided to walk over to strike up simple conversation. "Hey girls," she greeted casually, "how's it going?"

Everyone slowly lifted their gaze to look the teacher in her eyes. _None_ of them saw Nanako in the same light they did yesterday. Yesterday, they viewed her as a teacher, a friend, and nothing else. Now, there was _another_ title: lesbian.

"Uh, h- hi," Tsukasa answered in an unwillingly feeble way, which inadvertently revealed her nervousness.

Noticing this, Nanako raised an eyebrow to the short haired girl. "Something up, Hiiragi?"

"N- Nothing… Did you, um, do anything interesting yesterday?" Tsukasa suddenly felt the kick of Kagami's left foot against her ankle from under the table.

"Oh, nothing much," the teacher replied. "Had a little lunch with Sawako yesterday. Not much else." This, of course, was a lie, considering what Nanako did _after_ her lover left for home.

Kagami joined in the conversation. "You, um, seem to hang out with Yamanaka-san a lot," she commented.

"Yeah, I _guess_ we do," Kuroi said nonchalantly.

At this point, Konata could not help herself. "So," chimed in Konata, "did you two do anything _after_ lunch?" Though her three friends shot the blue haired girl _intense_ glares, none of them could have foreseen what Kuroi would say next.

Voicing an almost disappointed sigh and glancing to the ceiling, Nanako casually replied, "No, we didn't, because Sawako has her period this week-"

It was too late to stop herself.

With her body becoming as still as stone, Kuroi lowered her eyes to the four students who sat before her. Their faces were livid with shock. Showing turning her head around, the students that were within earshot of what Kuroi just said seemed to share similar faces.

"Uh…" Nanako said, turning her eyes back to the four girls, "you _didn't_ hear that… did you?"

"… Y-Yeah," replied Kagami, "we kind of did."

"Well, you see, it's not like- I mean- I meant to say-"

"It's ok," interrupted the pigtailed girl. "_Actually,_ we kind of, sort of… _know_ about you… and Yamanaka-san…"

The strength in Nanako's legs failed in an instant. Were it not for a quick-thinking Konata, who grabbed an empty chair and slipped it beneath Kuroi before she plopped down, she would have collapsed to the floor. Instead, she plopped into the chair.

"W- When did you find out?" Kuroi whispered to Kagami.

"Yesterday. Konata overheard the conversation you had with Yamanaka-san on your cellphone." The teacher shot an angry glare to said student. "She wanted to follow you to the restaurant to see what would happen and… we all ended up tagging along. But yeah, we followed you to the restaurant, and when Yamanaka-san showed up, we saw you…"

Thought Kagami spoke no further, Kuroi _knew _what she was talking about. "_They saw us kiss_," Kuroi thought to herself. "_They **know**. Jesus, what do I do? If word gets out any further, God knows what will happen! Could I lose my job because of this? If not, what will my **students** think of me?_"

Nanako leaned her head in closer toward the center of the table. "Listen," she whispered, "I… I know this may come as a shock to most of you… but it's true…" She leaned in closer and lowered the volume of her voice slightly more. "Sawako and I are-" She searched for the appropriate word. "Lovers." Blushes shot across all four of the girl's faces. "Um, I can understand _why_ if you think what I'm doing is wrong. I mean, _Hiiragi_, you live on a shrine, right?" The two sisters gave a unison nod. "So… If you don't want to be associated with me anymore-"

"Don't say that!" Miyuki suddenly blurted out, sending nearly all eyes in the classroom on her. "We don't think your strange or anything like that! Right, everyone?"

"Right," replied Kagami, a smile now on her face and her sister grinning with her. "We don't see you any differently, Kuroi-sensei." Tsukasa agreed with a nod of her head.

Looking to Konata for _her_ reassurance, the otaku began by scratching the back of her head. "Well, sensei, I'd be lying if I said that I wouldn't think of you _differently_…" Konata explained, "but you know as well as _I_ do that I'll support you and Yamanaka-san."

Kuroi couldn't be happier. Sinking backwards into her chair, she breathed a sigh of extreme relief. "Thanks, everyone," she said to the girls with a giant grin. "That means a lot to me…

So, you little troublemakers decided to spy on your _teacher_, did you? You know, I _could_ have you written up for that… But I think I'll let it slide this time. Just tell me that you four were the only ones, right?"

When Kuroi's question was met with their silence, her emotions shot right back to worry. "You _were_ the only ones, _right_?"

"… Actually," replied Konata, "there _were_ others, but we didn't bring them along, I swear! They just happen to be spying on Yamanaka-san at the same time _we _were."

"Who?" asked Nanako. "Who were they?"

"…Houkago Tea Time?" Konata cautiously replied.

"Houkago Tea Ti-? Oh shit…"

-o0o-

That very same day, during the club hours of the light music club, a similar silence for similar reasons was being held between the band members. They _too_ were stricken by shock from the events of yesterday. For the Ryoo High students, they _did_ know of Sawako and that she and Nanako were _friends_, but they knew not of how close they _truly_ were.

For the K-On club, _everything_ about yesterday was a surprise.

From outward appearances, the five girls seemed to be enjoying their tea time as they sat at the table. At first glance, one would never suspect anything. However, if closer looks are given to the expressions on the girl's face, you would know_ instantly_ that something troubled them and, indeed, something _did_.

When, at around 16:00, the club's adviser and "Woman of the Hour" Sawako Yamanaka poked her head through the door to stop by, the five girls chose not to greet her, instead choosing to keep their eyes on their steaming cups of tea. Sawako, initially not noticing this, let herself into the club room and took a seat, asking Mugi politely if any tea was left.

Again, silence seemed her only response.

"… Okay, what's going on here?" she then asked. "You guys aren't chatting up storms like you usually do. Come on, let hear it- Wait, let me guess… Guy troubles, right?" She was, of course, joking, but she received no laughter.

"Funny you should mention that," Ritsu retorted in an uncharacteristically calm voice, "seeing as you don't have _any_."

"Hey! What's that suppose to mean! I can get any guy I want to, you little smart-ass!"

"But you don't _want_ that, do you, Sawa-chan?"

"What the- What's with this coldness all of a sudden?" Sawako looked to the others to see if perhaps _they_ knew what was going on. She was met with their stares. "Ok, now you're starting to scare me, girls. Seriously, what's going on here?"

Taking a long sip of her tea, Mio gently placed the cup back down onto its saucer before calmly asking Sawako, "So… Who _was_ she?"

"She?" Yamanaka asked back. "What are you talking about?"

"That _woman_ from _yesterday_. Who was she?"

"Woman from yest-?" Suddenly it hit her. In an instant, she knew they were talking about Nanako. In much the same way Kuroi reacted earlier that day, Sawako's face began to turn pale in color. "Y-Yesterday?" she asked in a now shaking voice. "How do you-?"

"We all followed you," Yui explained. "We followed you to the café and saw you and your _friend_."

Sawako's hands were now beginning to shake. "And you saw… us…?"

Yui nodded. "Yes, we did."

"_Well, that's it_," Sawako thought to herself. "_It's over. There goes my job, because God knows they won't let a lesbian work at an **all girls** school. Why didn't I think this could happen? Was I that stupid not to foresee this? What kind of an idiot **am** I?_"

"Sawa-chan," said Mio, "… why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"… Tell you _earlier_?" Sawako echoed.

Mugi chimed in this time. "We wouldn't have gotten mad, Sawa-chan," she reassured her sensei. "But why keep this a big secret? You didn't think we would understand?"

"N- No, it's not that. It's just… I was afraid of what would happen if word got out. I mean, I'm a teacher in an _all girl_ school for Christ's sake! Any way you look at it, it does not look good for me."

"Well, I guess there's _that_," Mio agreed. "But still, you could have just told us that you were a…"

"Lesbian?" Sawako finished.

"Y- yeah, _that_…"

At that moment, Sawako Yamanaka heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that her secret (at least for now) was being kept safe within the walls and minds of the light music club. Seeing the relief flood over her face, Mugi got up from her chair and served her friend a cup of steaming tea and a slice of today's cake (which was angel food cake), accompanying it with a reassuring grin.

"So…" said Azusa, who had until now remained silent, "who _was_ that?"

Sawako took a sip before answering. "Remember I told you about my roommate from Ryoko University?"

"Yeah, um… Nanako Kuroi, was it?"

"That's right. That was _her_."

Ritsu's feet nearly left the ground as she shot up from her seat. "So I was _right_!" she excitedly exclaimed. "There _were_ lesbians in your school!"

"Ok, Ritsu. First thing: don't yell things like that (especially _here_ of all places.) Secondly: there are bound to be lesbians _wherever_ you go. And thirdly: don't act so damn smug."

"Y-Yes, sensei," the girl quickly relented as she sat back down in her chair.

Sawako took a sip from her tea before continuing. "Girls," she began, "I'm sorry you had to find out about this that way. I was _hoping_ this would remain a secret for a while, but I was stupid to think that… Can I ask you guys to keep this a secret? Please, I don't know how the school will react if they find out about this and I don't feel like finding out anytime soon."

"Don't worry, Sawa-chan," Mio said back, "we won't tell anyone else." The four others agreed with nod of their heads.

"Whew. Thank God for tha- Wait. Anyone _else_?"

"Y-yeah… You see, as it turns out, there were students from Ryoo High spying on Kuroi-san at the same time we were spying on _you_. Isn't that strange?"

"… Yeah, _very_ strange…"

"But don't worry, they were the only others."

"Let's hope so…"

-o0o-

Even later that same day, at around 21:00, Konata Izumi sat in front of her computer, her eyes gazing into the screen. However, unlike every _other_ night, she was not in the process of playing a game. Rather, the screen remained still and without movement. Instead, Konata's mind was _still_ wrapped around the fact that Nanako and Sawako were a couple. Even though her pigtailed friend advised her _not_ to get involved, that was _exactly_ what she was trying to plan out.

"_Let's see_," the blue haired otaku began to contemplate in her mind, "_how can I trigger the next event…? Maybe I can look on the internet for anything for couples like them to do?_" Opening her internet browser, she searched for the next hour for any sort of club, event, function, or _anything_ that could "trigger a flag." Nearing the stroke of 22:00, just as she was about to call it quits and watch an anime, she clicked on one last link. The second her eyes met the homepage of the club's website, she nearly screamed.

"_This is it!_" she screamed in her head. "_This place is **perfect!** I gotta see if they're any special events happening soon._" Checking the club's event calendar, however, produced no special events for the next two months. "_Grr! That's too long to wait! I want results now!... Wait a second… If there aren't any events going on… I must assume my role of 'Game Master' and **make** an event!_"

Opening her Photoshop application, Konata wasted no time in forging a fake event flyer for the club. After another hour of work, Konata printed out her finished product, sealed it in an envelope (not without learning how to send mail without giving a return address), and placed it in one of her unused school books for safe keeping. "_Tomorrow, I'll mail this baby to Kuroi-sensei. Oh man, this just might be your best plan **ever**, Konata._"

She fell asleep that night with a giant cat-like grin on her face.

-o0o-

A few days past the teacher's admission to her students, Nanako Kuroi just finished her drive home from another average day of teaching. Parking in the parking lot located at the rear of her apartment building, she walked around its left side to the front door. However, before she reached it, she recognized the sound of a mail truck approaching from down the street.

Stopping in front of the building, a young man of twenty-four with short black hair stepped out. Noticing Kuroi standing a short distance away, he gave her a friendly wave and greeted her with a "Good evening, Nanako."

"Hey, Hajime," Nanako said back with a wave. During the time she lived in this apartment building, she inevitably became friends with Hajime, who seemed to drive by on a near daily basis. "How are things going?" she asked him.

"Fine. Fine. Hey, good news. You got mail."

"Yeah? When _don't_ I?"

"True, but this time it's different. You have a _package_ today."

"_A package?_" Nanako's head suddenly screamed.

Opening the back door to the mail truck and stepping in, Hajime reappeared holding, along with a few envelopes, a box about the size of a mailbox. Handing Nanako her mail, she quickly glanced at the company name on the box. Recognizing it in an instant, she lit up with anticipation.

"It's here!" she yelled without control, causing Hajime to jump. "Thank you so much!" she then thanked the mailman.

"Uh, no problem," Hajime said back. "It's just my job, really. I just need you to sign this." Handing Kuroi a clipboard and pen, she quickly scribbled her name on the intended line. She quickly thanked Hajime once more before running toward the door at full speed, leaving the young man to wonder to himself "What was _that_ all about?"

Nanako bounded up the three flights of stairs to her apartment, taking them two steps at a time. Literally throwing herself through the door and locking it behind her, she threw the mail and package onto the coffee table located in front of her couch. After shuffling through a junk drawer to find a box cutter, she plopped herself onto the couch and wasted no time in opening her package.

Opening the flaps revealed a mass of cotton-like packing material. Moving that aside, however, revealed the _true_ contents: a proof of purchase form, and "Thank You" note for her purchase, and a single, small blue box, covered in faux blue velvet.

Slowly lifting the tiny box from its holding place and taking it into her now trembling hands, she inched the small box open. The second she set her eyes upon what sat within, she nearly broke into tears. "It'sperfect," she whispered aloud. She looked at the small object for what seemed an eternity before she finally summoned the strength to close it.

Taking heed of the _other_ mail she received, she decided to open those now. The first two envelopes turned out to be nothing more than credit card forms (which she had no need for, given she already had two.) The next one was your average junk mail. The _last_ one, however, somehow spiked her curiosity. With no return address given, the front of the envelope had emblazoned across the front "Once in a Lifetime Opportunity." Thinking it more junk mail, she casually opened it up.

But when she scanned the contents, she nearly broke into tears once more. "_Is this a sign from God?_" she asked herself. "_There can't be any other explanation. To receive **this** only after getting-"_

Nanako looked at the small, blue box once more. "That's it," she spoke aloud. "That's when I'll ask her."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **On shit, what going on _now_?... Of course, _I_ already know, but you'll just have to wait! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Just kidding, people. Stay tuned for the next installment!


	6. Hole

Chapter 6

A few days passed since Nanako received her package. Sitting on her couch once more, she stared at her cell phone, which sat still atop the glass surface of her coffee table. Sitting adjacent to the phone was the small, blue box. She was attempting to summon her courage, courage with which to call Sawako. "_I've put this off for too long now_," she told herself. "_It's now or never_."

Snatching the phone off the table's cold surface, she quickly punched in Sawako's number. She answered two rings later.

"_Hello?_" Yamanaka asked through the other end.

"Hey Sawako, it's me," Nanako said back. "Hey… You free this weekend? Like Sunday?"

"_Hmm… Think so. Why? Got some place in mind?_"

"Yeah. I got this thing in the mail about it. It's this place called 'Hole.'"

"'_Hole?' The hell kind of name is that? What, is it a bar or something?_"

"Not sure. It didn't give any information on it. I looked it up on the internet, but I couldn't find _anything_."

"_Hmm, must be **really** underground then… Count me in then._"

"Figured that would spike your interest," Nanako said back with a chuckle. "Ok, I'll pick you up around… 19:00?"

"Sure. See you then, babe."

"… Babe?" Nanako repeated. "What's _that_ all about?"

"_Oh nothing, just trying new things out. You like it?_" Sawako asked.

"Actually, no, not really."

"_Oh well, I'll think of something else. See you then. Bye._"

With that, Sawako hung up. Nanako looked into the display of her phone for a few more seconds before she finally put it back down. "_Well, that's it I suppose… All that there's left to do is… **ask** her…_"

-o0o-

Nanako arrived at Sawako's house a little earlier than intended, at around 18:00. The club, "Hole," (which Nanako could not help but think that the name was strangely ominous) was realistically not a long drive from where her lover lived, but the blonde felt as if she needed to see her _beforehand_. Parking on the sidewalk in front of her house, she paused before stepping out of her car.

She slid her left hand over the bulge in her left pant pocket. Within sat the blue box. Thinking of it made Nanako nervous, but quickly brushing it aside, she wrapped a maroon scarf around her neck and stepped outside into the cold.

The year was turning into its cold period. At this time, much of the leaves that adorned the trees were now the colors of fire. A persistent chill hung in the air throughout the days. Nanako's breaths as she approached her lover's door hung in the still, creating feathery puffs in front of her.

She approached her friend's door and knocked three times. In truth, this was the first time she had ever been to Sawako's house. Whenever they decided on "spending the night," they would usually do it at Nanako's apartment, but never has she set foot in Sawako's house.

Sawako opened the door and greeted her lover with a warm smile. "You're here _early_," she lightly commented.

"Yeah, well… I wanted to see your place," Kuroi replied on the spot.

"Then come in, silly. I'll make some tea."

Stepping into the foyer, Nanako, after shutting the door behind her, slipped her shoes off and stepped into the main hallway, admiring the hardwood floors. To her left was an open doorway that led into a living room, to her right the same that led into the kitchen, where Sawako was turning on a counter-top water heater. Turning back around and noticing her friend standing just outside the kitchen, Sawako pointed to the table to her left.

Taking a seat, Kuroi looked around and admired Sawako's house… In fact, "_Why don't **I** have a house like this? I mean, she can't make **that** much more than me, can she?_"

Kuroi's train of thought was cut short when Yamanaka sat across the table from her, placing in front of her a hot mug of black tea, fixed the way she likes it: milk and _lots_ of sugar. As she lifted the cup to her lips to take a sip, Sawako asked "So, did you find out _anything_ about this place?"

"No," replied Nanako in an almost worried tone. "I mean, I searched the internet for what seemed an hour, but I came up with a whole bunch of nothing!"

"Yeah, I ended up looking myself, but I got nothing as well. What's the name of the place again."

"Hole," Nanako responded.

Sawako laughed at the name. "Sounds kind of provocative," she commented. "You sure you don't know this place and you're not instead taking me somewhere _dirty_."

"N- No!" Nanako quickly defended. "You know I wouldn't willingly go to that kind of stuff!"

"Yeah, I know… Wait, _willingly…_? What if I _forced_ you?" Sawako asked, putting on a playful grin.

"Well… if you were there, maybe…"

Sawako's grin turned from playful to friendly. "So you'd be content with putting _both_ of us through misery so long as it's just not you?"

"N- No, it's not like that. It just… I don't know, maybe if _you're_ there, it wouldn't be so bad."

"_Jeez, you're so weird, Kuroi_," Sawako said to herself. "Ok, finish your tea. I'm anxious to see where you brought me tonight."

"Yeah… me too." Nanako said back.

Once both were finished with their drinks, both threw on their coats and scars and headed off in Nanako's car. "Hole" was located in a town about a forty-five minute drive from Sawako's home (and this was taking the freeway most of the way.) All the while they drove to their destination, Nanako's mind raced with but one thought.

"_I hope this place is suitable for me to **ask**…_"

-o0o-

Sadly, it was far from it.

The very instant they stepped into the club, the two _knew_ something was amiss. Some would say that it was the fact that this club was inhabited with nothing but woman. _That_ wasn't what freaked Nanako and Sawako out. Rather, it was who _specifically_ was in the club. Just to name a few names: Miku Hatsune, Haruhi Suzumiya, Suzuka Asahina, and Sakura Haruno.

The two teachers stood at straight and still as stone pillars, stricken at the sight that was set before them. Slowly, Sawako leaned toward Nanako, who stood to her left, and whispered to her "Umm… Are you_ sure_ you didn't know about this place? Because this seems like more your bag."

"N… N- No," Nanako defended. "I honestly didn't know it would be like _this_." Reaching into her coat pocket, she retrieved the flyer and examined it intently. "_Nowhere_ did it say it would be… _cosplay_.

_This is terrible_," Nanako thought to herself. "_This place is in **no** way suitable for what I had planned. No way can I ask Sawako **here**…_

Listen, Sawako, if you want to leave, we can-"

Looking to her lover, she finally noticed the change of expression she had. What was once shock had changed to clear _delight_. "Uh, Sawako? You ok?"

"… The costumes… they're all _amazing_!"

Nanako reared her head back from this sudden revelation. "I didn't know you were into cosplay, Sawako."

"Hell yeah, I am! Come on, let's take a seat!" Grabbing Nanako by a wrist, she led her to a table near the center of the club. Once seated, a waitress (dressed in an incredibly accurate Yuki Nagato costume) approached the table.

"What may I serve you today?" she asked, taking on the character's signature monotone voice.

Sawako could not help but giggle at how perfect their waitress's portrayal of Nagato was. "I guess we'll just start off with a couple of beers, I guess," Sawako ordered.

As Yuki wrote down their order, she commented that "You two are not in costume. Is this perhaps your first time here?"

"Uh, yeah," Nanako replied, retrieving the flyer from her pocket once again. "I found out about this place from this flyer I got in the mail."

Yuki took one look at the flyer and stated "This instillation does not circulate advertisements of any type. What you hold in your hands is a forgery."

"A forgery?" Kuroi repeated in disbelief.

"We apologize for any inconvenience. I will return shortly with your order." With that, Nagato left, leaving Nanako to ask her auburn friend "A forgery?"

Sawako looked just as confused as Kuroi. "This is really strange. She said that they don't advertize, so where did the flyer come from?"

As they thought this over, Nagato returned with two tall glasses of beer. After placing them both on the table, she quickly looked to both her left and right before leaning in closer. Her voice was now no longer monotone, but _average_. "Ok, I'm acting out of character right now," she whispered to Yamanaka and Kuroi. "Hey, can I see that flyer again?"

Handing the flyer to their waitress, she studied it intensely, giving it back a few moments later. "I'm sorry, but like I said, we don't advertize at all, given the nature of this place."

"… The _nature_?" both customers asked in unison.

Nagato grinned. "This really _is_ your first time here, is it? This place is… a lesbian bar."

"A _WHAT_?"

"Yeah. You just happen to catch us on our biweekly cosplay night… Listen, I'm again sorry for any inconvenience, but someone _else_ must have sent you that flyer. Well, who-"

"Nagato!" yelled Sakura Haruno from behind the bar, "you're not acting in-character! Keep it up and you'll be speaking with my _fists_!" She was, perhaps, acting _too_ in-character.

Nagato quickly apologized and, turning her attention back to Sawako and Nanako, she resumed her monotone voice and her vacant stare. "Perhaps someone you know sent you two to this instillation. Is there anyone that comes to mind?"

Sawako thought silently for a moment. "No, can't really think of anyone in particular. Plus, I don't think my students would think of doing something like _this_. What about you, Nanako?... Nanako?"

Flames of pure anger suddenly sprouted from Kuroi's eyes, accompanied with a growl that would frighten the Devil himself. With a slam of her fist against the table, Nanako made a frightening declaration. "That little _brat_!" she seethed. "When I get my hands on her, she's gonna wish she was never born!"

"What's up, Kuroi?" Yamanaka asked. "You think you know who sent you this?"

"Oh, I know _exactly_ who did this, and when I get my hands on her, her entire body is gonna be black and blue… as blue as her freaking hair!"

-o0o-

That same night, Konata Izumi spent a period of her night lying atop her bed, catching up on some of her manga reading. As she read, a thought popped into her head. "_Hey, I wonder if sensei got my message yet? Then again, how would I find out…? I know! I'll call someone from Houkago Tea Time! They would probably know!_" So, snatching her cell phone from the nightstand next to her bed, she took a moment to contemplate her choices in who to call. Finally, she chose to call Mio, reasoning that she seemed the most responsible of the group.

She tapped the number in and anxiously awaited the other end of the line to answer. Five rings later, Mio's voice answered through the speaker. "_… Hello?_" she asked cautiously.

"Hey, Mio-chan, what's up?" Konata greeted.

"_H- Hello… Um, who is this_?"

"Oh come on, don't recognize me? It's me, Konata! Remember, from a week or so ago?"

_"… Oh!_" Mio then said with enthusiasm. "_Hello, Konata. I wasn't expecting you to call. How are things going?"_

"Fine, fine. Listen, I need to ask you something _really_ important."

"_What is it?_"

"Was Yamanaka-san absent from your club meeting any time in the past few days?"

There was a pause on the other end of the line. "_… Why do you ask?_" Mio asked Konata.

"Uh… No reason?" Izumi replied.

"Well… Actually, Sawa-chan was not at the club room _today_."

"Really? Did she say why she was out?"

"_Um, I **think** she said she was going out with Kuroi-san again._"

"She _DID_? Did she say where?"

"_No, she didn't… Is something going on, Konata_?" Mio asked with suspicion now in her voice.

"No, no," Konata replied in haste, "just wondering. Well, thanks. Got to go, bye."

Before Mio could even have the chance to ask another question, Konata hung up. "_What was **that** about?_" she asked herself. "_Is there something behind what Konata was asking…? Maybe one of her friends knows… What was the name of the one with the pigtails again? **She** seemed close friends with Konata. Was it Tsukasa?_"

Searching Tsukasa's number in her contact list, she dialed up the number, still unsure whether or not she was dialing the correct number. A few seconds, someone answered. "_Hello?_" asked a light voice on the other end.

"Hello. Um, is this Kagami Hiiragi?"

"_Oh, no. This is Tsukasa, her sister. I'll go get her. Who may I say is calling?_"

"Mio Akiyama," Mio replied.

"_Oh, hello, Mio-chan! How are you?_"

"Fine, just fine."

"_Just a second, I'll get sis._" A few seconds later, Kagami's voice sounded through Mio's phone. "_Hello, Mio?_"

"Kagami, how are you today?" Mio began, if not to just be friendly.

"_I'm good. So, you're **actually** following up on Konata's orders? You got something about our teachers?_"

"Well, _maybe_. I actually just got a call from Konata a few seconds ago. She asked me something kind of weird."

"_Given **her**, that's no big surprise. What did she ask?_"

"She asked if Sawa-chan came to the light music club's meetings lately. When I told her that she didn't come _today_, she seemed to get really excited."

"_… Oh she **did**, did she_?" Kagami asked in deadpan.

"What are you thinking, Kagami?"

"_If I know Konata, she went against what I told her and got herself involved in Yamanaka-san and Kuroi-san._"

"Involved?" Mio echoed with worry in her tone. "What do you think is going on?"

"_I don't know. A few days ago, she was talking about 'creating events' and 'raising flags.' I don't know, a lot of gibberish to me… But I'm certain **now** that she's up to something. Thanks for telling me, Mio._"

"Sure think, Kagami. Say, what are you going to do about Konata?" Mio asked the pigtailed girl. "I mean, if she really _is_ up to something."

"_Oh, I'll give her a piece of my mind, believe you me._"

-o0o-

Sitting at a table, located in a corner of Hole, Yukari Tanazaki strummed her fingers on the surface of the table. Taking a brief glance around her, looking at the many costumed females around her, she asked within her head the same question she asked herself at least a million times before. "_How the hell do I find myself in this place time and time again?_" Just then, her companion for the night, Yui Narumi, returned to her table, hold a tall can of beer in each hand. "_Oh yeah, that's right. Because she **brings** me here._"

In spite of the fact that she just answered her own question, after her friend placed her drink in front of her and Yui took her seat, Yukari seemed compelled to ask what had been said many times before. "Remind me," she asked Yui. "Just _why_ do you take me to this place all the time?"

"Jeez," said Yui back, "Haven't I already told you a billion times before?"

"Maybe, but I _still_ don't believe it."

"Ok, but I'm starting to get sick of repeating myself: the one behind the bar (the one dressed as Sakura) owns the bar and she and I are friends. She always lets me in and serves me free drinks."

"Right…" said Tanizaki, taking a swig from her can. "But that can't be the _only_ reason you come here, _right_?" Her tone, while joking, was more than implying toward Yui.

"No!" she quickly defended. "I'm not into that stuff! I'm married for Christ's sake!"

"Relax, Yui. I'm just screwing with you. I'm not _really_ implying you're a lesbian."

"Right… Plus, I have a little cousin, Konata, who likes cosplay, anime, and stuff like that. I figure the more I learn, the closer we can become as friends."

"Oh yeah, Konata. You told me about her before: the otaku. Heh, I can't say any of my students are like _that_. Most of them seem normal enough… except for Takino. _She's_ energy incarnate."

"Takino?" Yui asked. "What she's-" Yui's voice began to trail off as she eyes seemed fixed onto a sight near the center of the club. "What the…?"

"Hmm?" asked Yukari. "What's up?"

"Hey, look at that table near the center. The one with the blonde woman and the one with reddish hair." Pivoting herself around in her seat, Yukari spotted the two in question sitting at the same table, engaged in conversation amongst themselves. "Tell me _you_ recognize them, Yukari."

Studying the two for a few moments, she turned back around to Yui only to give a shrug of her shoulders. "Sorry, not ringing a bell," she said, taking another sip of her beer.

"Remember our freshman year at Ryoko?" Yui then asked. "The one year we shared a dorm? Remember the roommates we had next to us?"

"Hmm…" voiced Yukari as she entered into thought. "The ones that were big occult freaks?"

"No, the_ other_ ones. You know… the _lesbians_," she explained, whispering the last part.

"… Oh yeah, I _do_ remember them. Jesus, I remember around winter I needed earplugs to sleep through the damn racket they made…" Tanizaki whipped her head back around. "You think that's actually _them_?"

"I think so," Yui replied, joining her friend in looking across the club at the two. After a few moments of watching, the couple got up and left through the front door. "Man," said Yukari, "who would have thought they would have stayed together for that lo-"

"Holy crap!" Yui suddenly exclaimed, causing her friend to whip herself back around again. "I've seen that blonde one somewhere else before! She's Konata's teacher: Nanako Kuroi!"

"Really?" Tanizaki asked her friend in disbelief. "She's a _teacher_? They allowed that? I know at my school they wouldn't allow someone like that… Then again, there _is_ Kimura…"

-o0o-

Nanako walked her lover to the front door of her home. Being this later in the night, their breaths were more prominent in the unmoving air. Before walking inside, Sawako turned around and gave Kuroi a quick peck on her left cheek. "Thanks for talking _me_ out for a change," Yamanaka said. "Even though you didn't intend to go there, I still had fun."

"Yeah…" Nanako replied slowly. "I _guess_ it was fun."

Seeing Kuroi's mood, Sawako reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry if things didn't go as planned. I see you later, ok? Night."

"… Night."

As Sawako stepped into her house, Nanako returned to her car with but one thought. "Tomorrow, Konata is _dead_."

-o0o-

The next day, before classes at Ryoo High began, Konata and Miyuki met with each other in the main hallway. Many other students did the same as them. In the warmer seasons, such congregation would take place outside, but seeing as the days were growing colder and colder, _inside_ was becoming more and more preferred.

After a few moments of talking amongst themselves, the final two members of their group, Tsukasa and Kagami, appeared approaching from the front door, Konata waved to the two, putting a friendly smile on her face. Though Tsukasa waved back, she was too preoccupied at keeping up with her sister, who was angrily matching toward her blue haired friend, all the while sporting an _intense_ scowl on her face. Before Konata could even say "Hello" to her pigtailed friend, she was already being yelled at.

"Ok, what the hell are you planning, Konata?" Kagami instantly began to interrogate.

Though Konata knew all too well what she was referring to, she played dumb for the moment. "Uh, what do you mean?" she asked innocently.

"You know damn well what! You'll never believe who I got a call from last night- Actually, you _will_ believe it. It was Mio Akiyama."

"Really?" Izumi said, still putting on her innocent act. "And what did she say?"

"Don't play dumb, Konata! She said that _you_ called _her_ asking if Yamanaka-san was after school with the band yesterday. When she said 'No,' Mio said that you got really _excited_ about that. Konata, tell me what the hell you're up to! _Now_!"

The otaku now found herself with her back against the wall and with nowhere to run. She had no choice but to confess. "Well…" she began, scratching the back of her neck, "I _might _ have sent Kuroi and Yamanaka-san to a place for a date…"

"You _what?_ Where, Konata? Where the hell did you send them!"

Konata paused before answering. "… A lesbian cosplay bar?"

Kagami was a mere _inch_ from exploding from outrage before there came thunderous booms from the front entrance to the school. The crowd of students, in a scene that near resembled the parting of the Red Sea, split into two, revealing a fuming Nanako Kuroi marching toward the four girls. Flames seemed to leap from her eyes as she stomped herself closer and closer to her target. Konata raised a hand to her sensei to say "Good morning, Kur-"

Before her greeting could be finished, she suddenly found herself the victim of a _fury_ of punches, all connected to the crown of Izumi's head, all courtesy of Nanako's fists. When the onslaught ended, Konata's head resembled the Rocky Mountains. But Nanako was not done yet with her anger.

"You got quite some nerve, Izumi," Nanako began to scream at her student, "pulling off a stunt like that! If you weren't both a minor _and _my student, I'd kill you right now!. Where do you thing you get off thinking what you did was justifiable! WELL!"

Seeing that Konata was too preoccupied in rubbing her newly formed bruises, Nanako continued her verbal onslaught. "Do you have _ANY_ idea what you screwed up last night, Izumi? I was going to ask Sawako last night, thinking the flyer was for some _nice_ restaurant, but instead it's to that _place_. There was no way in _hell_ I was going to ask her _there_!"

Finally recovering from her physical barrage, Konata summoned the strength to ask her sensei "… Ask her _what_, Kuroi-sensei?"

Nanako suddenly froze in fear, realizing in an instant that she just dug herself into an inescapable hole. "Uh- I mean- You see-" The four girls leaned in closer, now taking extreme interest in what Nanako was going to say next. With no escape possible, Nanako relented. "Well," she said with a sigh, "I suppose you were all going to find out _eventually_…" He voice then turned to a whisper. "Listen, after school, can you all meet me in the courtyard…? There's something you should all know…"

With that, Kuroi turned around and left, leaving the four students to wonder to themselves "_What is she going to say…?_"

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Well, we see that Konata's attempt at bringing her teacher and her friend has _clearly_ backfired, unintentionally ruining what Kuroi _truly_ had planned for the night. Now, it seems that she has no other option but to reveal a long held truth. What will be revealed? Stay tuned for the next installment to find out...

The return cameos of Yui and Yukari were thanks in part to **Solarius Scorch**, who mentioned that their first appearence seemed a waste. Hope _this_ is too your liking. XD Also, in no way, and I implying that Yui and Yukari are in any sort of _intimate_ relationship. Their friendship is strictly that: friendship. Plus, they don't seem compatible at all to me...


	7. Meeting of the Minds

Chapter 7

True to what she said, Nanako Kuroi sat atop the bench in the silent courtyard, surrounded on all sides by the walls of Ryoo High. With each passing second, she began to regret more and more what she told her students to do. Then, at around 15:30, the four students (Konata Izumi, Kagami Hiiragi, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Miyuki Takara) all dressed in winter clothing, approached the awaiting teacher as a group.

Choosing to stop a few feet in front of Nanako, the students waited in silence, waiting for Nanako to speak first. After heaving a huge sigh, Nanako spoke.

"Well," she began, "you all, of course, know of me and Sawako, so I don't need to explain that again… Izumi, I'm sorry I flipped out at you earlier. I didn't mean to get that angry, it's just… I had this image of how I wanted that night to go, but the nature of the club screwed all that up."

Nanako paused before reaching her left hand into her left pant pocket. "You see… I wanted to do something that night…" Removing her hand from her pocket, placed in the grip of her fingers was a small, blue box. Recognizing it in an instant, the four girls gave a simultaneous gasp. Then, Nanako slowly opened the box, revealing to the girls what sat within. They gasped louder than before.

Sitting inside the small blue box was a diamond ring.

The four students' eyes began rapidly shooting from the ring, to Nanako's now blushing face, and back to the ring again. This pattern lasted for what seemed to Nanako an eternity. After that moment, Tsukasa was the first to speak. "K- Kuroi-sensei," she stuttered from shock. "T- That's a r- _ring_! An _engagement_ ring!"

An increased blush of embarrassment crept onto Nanako's face. "Yeah… I want to ask Sawako… to marry me."

At that very moment, the sound of tears came from the younger Hiiragi. Kagami quickly placed both hands on her sister's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. "I- I'm sorry," Tsukasa apologized between sniffles, "it's just… it's so touching."

Nanako's blush _really_ intensified now. "Now you see, Izumi, _that's_ why I got so mad at you before. I got your flyer the same day I got the ring through the mail. It just seemed such a coincidence that… I don't know, like it was _fate_ or something… No offence, Izumi, but the place you sent me was _far_ from what I imagined. I just couldn't ask her there-"

Kuroi watched as Konata suddenly dropped to her knees and bowed her head directly in front of Nanako's feet. "I'm so sorry!" Konata said into the ground. "I didn't mean to screw your proposal up! I feel like such an ass!"

Touched by Izumi's display of regret, Nanako bent down to give her a few light pats on her head, causing the student to return to her feet. "I want to make it up to you, Kuroi-san!" Konata continued. "I screwed up bad. _Really_ bad. _Please,_ give me a second chance!"

Kuroi wasn't sure how to react: proud that she was admitting to her wrongdoings or worried that she would attempt _another_ perverted scheme. "Well," she slowly replied to her student, "if you _really_ feel like you need to-"

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, _thank you_! I won't let you down this time!" The blue haired whipped herself around to face her friends. "You'll all help out, right?"

Their response was near instantaneous. "You bet!" replied Kagami. Miyuki and Tsukasa gave nods of agreements, the latter still wiping tears from her eyes.

"Wait," said Konata, "I got an even _better_ idea! What if we get Houkago Tea Time to help out as well?"

"Houkago Tea Time?" Nanako repeated, "You mean _Sawako's_ students? I don't know, isn't that a little risky? I mean, I _don't_ want Sawako to find out about this, so involving them might be trouble."

"Don't worry, Nanako," Konata assured her teacher, "I'll be _super_ discreet. I'll set up a meeting with everyone and we'll discuss what to do."

"O- Ok… But I want say in this," Kuroi stated. "If I don't like any part of it, we don't go through with it, got it?"

"Sure thing, Nanako," Konata agreed, shooting a thumbs-up in her direction.

Suddenly, _Nanako _felt like crying.

-o0o-

True to her word (and with the help of an unlimited text messaging plan) Konata began to send the invites to each of the members of Houkago Tea Time (as well as the Ryoo students.) The multi-person exchange lasted for at least an hour, testing the limits of Konata's skills of multi-tasking. At around 21:00, the final test messages were sent and the plan was now set in stone.

Tsumugi Kotobuki was gracious enough to allow the nine of them to gather at her house three days from then. The members of the light music club would meet Konata and the others at the train station before heading to Mugi's house.

Also true to her word, Konata Izumi kept all members of the light music club blissfully unaware of Nanako's planned proposal. _That_ revelation would come later…

-o0o-

Three days past and the four Ryoo High students took the 13:05 train out of their town. Arriving at their intended destination (a place they had been but once before) the four were met with the sight of the five members of the K-On club standing at the foot of the stairwell, awaiting their arrival. After initial greetings were dispensed amongst everyone, Tsukasa was the one to ask the inevitable. "So, where is your house, Mugi-chan?"

"Oh, it's sort of a long drive from here. Hold on for just a moment. I'll call us a ride." Mugi then retrieved her cell phone from the pocket of her coat and tapped in a number, then bringing the phone to her ear. "Hey, it's Mugi. I need a ride from the train station back to the estate… Oh, thank you!" And just like that, Mugi hung up, turned to all her friends and stated "They'll be here in just a few minutes."

"… That was quick," Kagami commented. "Who was that, your dad?"

"Oh no, just a driver," Mugi replied. In unison, each member of the Ryoo group raised an eyebrow, all thinking to themselves "_Driver?_"

Sitting themselves on two separate adjacent benches, the nine awaited the arrival of Mugi's ride. As they waited in silence, Konata leaned toward Kagami, who sat to her left, and asked "What do you think she meant by 'driver?'"

"Don't know," Kagami replied. "I wouldn't think she's talk about her own _dad_ like that…"

After a few more moments, Tsukasa suddenly bumped her sister in her side to show her a white limo that had stopped at a red light just down the street. Kagami regarded the car with a "Cool," but when the limo started from its stop, turned into the arched car lane in front of the train station, and parked _right in front_ of the two benches, Kagami was _without_ words.

Ritsu and Yui were the first to jump up from their seats, their faces now beaming with glee. "Cool!" exclaimed Ritsu. "Mugi brought us a limo!"

Mugi, however, looked none too happy. Quickly retrieving her cell phone once more, she dialed the same number she called previously. "Why did you bring that?" she said into the phone in an almost child-like whine. "I told you: incognito around friends!... I see… Ok, fine." Hanging up, Mugi one more turned to her friends and stated "Sorry, but we'll have to make do with this."

"W- What?" shot Konata as she rose to her feet. "Make _do_? This is awesome!" She was the first to jump inside, with everyone else following shortly after. As large as the limo was, the nine girls seemed forced to sit shoulder to shoulder on the wraparound seat. Once the door was shut, the limo began to move forward, taking the girls out of the downtown and away from the town itself.

The car eventually drove into a thin forest, followed shortly after by the appearance of an ornate stone wall, the road leading up to a tall iron gate and a small security post adjacent. The limo came to a stop as a "rent-a-cop" emerged from the post. After a few seconds of speaking with the driver (their conversation going unheard from those sitting in the back), the gate was opened and the car rolled through.

Taking an especially wide bend in the road, the limo pushing its way up a steep incline, Mugi's home, the Kotobuki Mansion, came into view: a _sprawling_ mansion, built in a European design. Everyone (sans Mugi) now gazed out the tinted window as they approached the home. The limo parked at the foot of a many stepped stairwell that lead to the two massive wooden front doors. As soon as the wheels stopped turning, everyone (again, sans Mugi) jumped out of the limo door.

As the eight girls gawked in wonder at the majesty of Mugi's house, a butler, dressed in black suit and tie, approached Tsumugi. "Is there anything that can be done to accommodate your guests, Miss Kotobuki?" the butler asked.

After a second of thought, Mugi politely replied, "If it's not too much of a problem, could the _large_ kotatsu be placed in my room? I think that will be enough for now."

"Very good, Miss. I shall get right on it." With that the man left to enter through the front door. Once inside, Mugi turned her attention back to the others, whos eyes _still_ seemed immovable from the mansion's face. She waited for a few minutes and allowed her friends to gawk, knowing the arrangements _inside_ would take a while. Finally, when she thought sufficient time was spent, Mugi spoke. "Umm… Guys? We _can_ go inside, you know?" she joked.

Following Tsumugi through the massive front doors, the nine entered into the main foyer, a huge open area with two curing staircases that led to an overhand on the second floor. An elaborate and shimmering chandelier hung from the high ceiling. As the girls let their eyes wander, they continued to follow Mugi up to the second floor and down the hallway on the right.

Five doors to the left brought Miss Kotobuki to a stop. "Well, here's my room," she stated gleefully as she opened the door. The entire floor was carpeted in something that felt as soft as goose down. Against the far right corner was a canopy bed that could realistically fit all nine of them at once. Against the other walls were painting of fine art, wardrobes, tables, and other such things.

However, what caught _everyone's_ eyes was what sat in the very center of Mugi's room: a _mammoth_ kotatsu. Measuring four feet in width by eleven feet in length, its size matched that of large dining room tables. Around its edge hung a heavy pink cloth and two electric heaters from beneath hummed warmth in the enclosed space.

"Go ahead and take a seat," Mugi said. "I'll get us something to eat and drink." As everyone began their approach to the now _compelling_ kotatsu, Mugi didn't need to walk five steps to her left to reach a speaker and microphone built into the wall. Pressing the "Kitchen" button, she spoke politely into the microphone. "Could I have some… Earl Gray and strawberry cake brought to my room? Enough for nine-" Taking a quick glance at Yui, she quickly added "plus extra."

"Sure thing, Miss Kotobuki," said a voice from the other end.

Once set, Mugi walked over to the awaiting kotatsu and took a beet between Yui and Ritsu. From a top-down perspective, the seating arrangement around the kotatsu was as such:

Mio I Kagami

Ritsu I Tsukasa

Mugi I

Yui I Miyuki

Azusa I Konata

After hearing Mugi make her order through the intercom, Konata felt compelled to ask. "Are you really _that_ rich?" she asked Mugi. "You can just get cake made on the spot like that?"

Mugi gave a polite shake of her head. "Oh, no, it's not like that," she told the blue-haired girl. "It would be rude if I did that. My father knows that I like cakes and stuff, so he buys from the local bakeries, just so there is some offhand."

"Cool… Hey, where _is_ your dad?"

"Oh, he's away for the day on business. He won't be back until tomorrow."

Konata turned to Miyuki and smirked. "Looks like you got competition, Yuki-chan," she joked. "You're not the only rich girl on the block."

As Miyuki blushed from embarrassment, Mugi raised an eye to the pink-haired girl. "Oh, I'm not _that_ rich," Takara said with modesty. "Izumi-san's exaggerating a bit."

"Ok," agreed Izumi, "maybe she's not as rich at you, Mugi… but she has got you beat in _moe_."

"… Moe?" Mugi repeated with a tilt of her head.

Kagami suddenly groaned at the uttering of that word. "Trust me," she said to Kotobuki, "it's something you're better off _not_ knowing what it means. Plus, it takes way too long to comprehend. I've known Konata since freshman year and I _still_ don't fully understand 'moe.'"

"That because you heat and soul is not put into it," Konata attempted to explain. "It's like… Well you see…"

"_See_! Even _you_ can't describe it!"

"It's not something you can define like in a dictionary, Kagamin," Izumi defended. "But I can point it _out_ like nothing… Like _you_!" she said, pointing to the short-haired brunette that sat across from her.

"M- Me?" Yui asked.

"Yeah. You sort of moe… and _you_, definitely" said the otaku, aiming her finger at Mio. "Your _assets_ defiantly up your moe quota."

Mio initially didn't get Konata's metaphor. "My _assests_- Hey!" she screamed, now shooting her arms over her chest. "That's not funny!" Ritsu, however, thought differently, as she burst into laughter at her friend's embarrassment. A few giggles came from the other members of Houkago Tea Time as well.

Had Kagami sat next to Konata, she would have hit her by now. "Konata!" she instead yelled at her friends from down the length of the kotatsu, "stop alienating our friends! We're guests here, after all!"

"He he. Alright, Kagamin, I'll stop… _spoilsport_."

After a few more moments of light conversation, there came a knock at Mugi's door. "Ah, that must be it," Mugi said aloud. "Come in!"

A second later, another butler, different from the one before, entered through the door, carrying with both hands a large platter. Gently placing it atop the kotatsu revealed its contents to the nine girls: nine identical sets of tea cups and saucers, each hand painted to an immaculate detail, nine tiny silver spoons, a stack of nine small plates, a strawberry cake, its top adorned with whole strawberries, and a sterling silver teapot that steamed from its spout from the hot tea within, accompanied with a bowl of sugar and a milk pitcher.

For the members of the light music club, this was their norm. For the _others_, however, their eyes glistened with admiration at the sight.

"Will there be anything else, Miss Kotobuki?" asked the butler.

"No, thank you," Tsumugi replied. "You may leave."

Giving a bow, the man left and closed the door behind him. Watching the four Ryoo High School girls continuing to gawk at the display of tea and cake, Mugi cut nine slices of the cake, making sure each slice held a strawberry atop it, and slid it in front of each person. After that, each girl poured their own cup of tea and fixed it with their own individual amounts of sugar and milk.

Taking the first bit of the cake, Tsukasa was the first to complement. "Wow, it is delicious!" she said delightfully.

"Mugi-chan serves tea and cake every day at our club meetings," Yui added, taking a bite as well.

"Really?" asked Konata. "Why don't we have clubs like this at _our_ school?" Then, just as Kagami was about to sample _her_ slice, Konata couldn't pass up the opportunity to poke fun at her. "Careful, Kagamin. Don't eat _too_ much."

"And why's _that_?" she shot back.

"Wouldn't want to gain a few kilos, would we?" Izumi said with a smirk.

Kagami growled back, but she knew her friend was right. She _didn't_ want to gain weight, not right after losing a few kilos the week before. She would have to pace herself in the face of this temptation.

Once it seemed that everyone was partaking of their food and drink, the blue-haired otaku finally decided to get down to business. "Ok girls," she began, her voice taking a more serious tone, "time to discuss the _real_ reason why we're all here."

An instant later, the small pigtailed kohai that sat across from Izumi, Azusa Nanako, shot her hand into the air and maintained it there. "Uh, Azusa," said Konata, "we're not in school, you know. You don't have to raise your hand."

The hand quickly returned to her side. "S- Sorry," Azusa said with an embarrassed blush, "it's just… You still haven't told us _why_ you called this meeting together."

"Wait, you didn't tell them?" asked Kagami.

"Well, I wanted to keep it a surprise until now," replied Konata. "Ok… The reason I set this up is because Kagami, Tsukasa, Miyuki, and I learned something yesterday… It involves Yamanaka-san and Kuroi-san."

The five on the opposite side of the kotatsu leaned forward ever so slightly.

"You see, Kuroi-san… Kuroi-san wants to ask Yamanaka-san to marry her!"

…

The five band members suddenly exploded into a loud scream, a scream that, some say, was heard throughout the Kotobuki Mansion.

"WHAT?" Ritsu exclaimed. "Kuroi-san wants to… _marry_ Sawa-chan!"

"Y- Yeah," answered Tsukasa. "A few days ago, Kuroi-san showed us the engagement she bought."

"Oh wow," commented Yui aloud. "I knew that Kuroi-san and Sawa-chan were good friends… but I didn't think Kuroi-san was _that_ serious…" Yui, as well as the other, now shared expressions of shock and flabbergast, each of them _completely_ taken back by this turn of events.

"…Mio," said Kagami to the one who sat across from her. "Remember when you called, saying that Konata called _you_?" Mio nodded. "Well, it turns out we were _both_ right. Konata _was _up to something: she secretly set up a date between Kuroi-san and Yamanaka-san by sending a fake promotion flyer to some restaurant. It was…" Kagami forced herself to utter then next few words. "to a lesbian cosplay bar."

In unison, the fine Sakura High girls reeled their heads back. "… Well," said little Azusa, "Sawa-chan _does_ like making and dressing in costumes. Maybe that _was _a good place to go."

"But I completely screwed up!" Izumi blurted out. "As it turns out, Nanako was going to ask Yamanaka-san to marry her_ that_ night, thinking I sent them to a nice restaurant or something…! But Nanako didn't agree with the place, so she was forced to postpone the proposal… Damn it, I screwed up so badly!"

"… That why Izumi-san called us all here today," Miyuki continued in place of her friend. "She agreed to make up for her blunder by arranging another date with Kuroi-san and a Yamanaka-san. She wants to have this next one go more ideally than the last. She asks if you (Houkago Tea Time) can help us with this."

The band seemed to go silent as its members exchanged silent looks between themselves. "Um, excuse us," said Mio and, giving loaded looks to the others, the five rose from beneath the kotatsu and grouped in a far corner of the room. There, they whispered to themselves in secret, out of the hearing of the others. The Ryoo students waited patiently as the Sakura High students talked amongst themselves. With each passing second, they feared that they would decline.

After ten minutes of discussion, the five returned to their positions at the kotatsu. "… We have decided," Mio announced, "… that we _will_ help you."

"… You will?" the four screamed in glee.

The raven-haired girl nodded, putting a smile on her face. "We want to make Sawa-chan happy as well. If you're all so committed to doing this, we want to help out as well."

"With our combined forces," Ritsu added, "I'm _sure_ we'll think up the best night _ever_!"

"All right!" Izumi exclaimed. "Now _that's_ want I want to here! Now, let's get down to business…!"

-o0o-

The day after the girl's meeting, during lunch period, the four Ryoo students approached their sensei and gave them a single message: "Meet us in the courtyard after school."

Following their message, Nanako found herself later that day sitting on the same bench from the days before. In her left pant pocket still sat the blue box. After waiting for a few minutes, Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki approached. Kuroi rose from her seat and met the four halfway.

Tsukasa stepped forward. After meeting her cobalt eyes with the teacher's green eyes, she lowered them to the ground, sending a feeling of fear through Nanako's spine. But just then, the younger Hiiragi's eyes lifted and her face sported a huge smile. Now Nanako wasn't sure _how_ to react.

Reaching into a coat pocket, Tsukasa retrieved a printed piece of paper and handed to her teacher. Taking a brief look at it, Kuroi asked "What's this?"

"It's a reservation," Kagami replied with a smile of her own, "to the Aragawa."

"… HOLY _SHIT_!" Kuroi screamed. "What the- How the hell did you get a reservation there!"

Konata chuckled. "We met with Houkago Tea Time yesterday. The keyboardist, Mugi, is _super_ rich, and she was able to get a reservation. Don't worry, there won't be cosplayers _this _time- Kuroi-sensei?"

Tears dropped from Nanako's eyes and bled through the printed reservation. Suddenly the four students found themselves in the near deadly grip of Nanako's hug, whos arms wrapped around their collective shoulders.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" Kuroi sobbed. "Thank you _so_ much for doing this!"

"N- No problem," Kagami's voice strained from the crushing force. Relinquishing her death-grip from her students, Nanako's face glowed with bliss as she smiled at her students. "Now," Kagami continued, "all that's left is for you to call her up and ask her to go."

Miyuki, who stood near the back of the group, up until now, had remained silent, but after witnessing all that occurred, after seeing the look of pure elation on her teacher's face, she _further_ regretted what she had to say next. "Um… everyone?" she said, turning their attention onto her. "After we all went home, I went onto the internet and looked something up. As it turns out, there's a little problem with what's planned… Actually, it's a really _big_ problem…"

"What is it, Yuki-chan?" Tsukasa asked.

"Well, Kuroi-san, as it turns out… you _can't_ ask Yamanaka-san to marry you."

…

"… What do you mean I_ can't_?" Nanako asked slowly.

"Well, as the law stands… it's _illegal_."

Kuroi collapsed to the ground, instigating a scream from Tsukasa. The four girls quickly bend down and picked their teacher up, dragging her back over to the bench and propping herself upright in it. Unsure as to what to do to wake her, Kagami began lightly tapping Nanako's left cheek with her hand. "Nanako? Nanako, wake up. Nanako!"

After a few seconds of tapping, Nanako groaned herself into consciousness. "Ugh… What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You fainted," Kagami replied. "You okay?"

"I- I think so… _Illegal_, Takara?" she then asked Miyuki.

"Y- Yes," she replied. "I'm sorry I had to bring this up like this, but it's true: while same-sex _couples_ are recognized under Japanese laws, same-sex marriages are not. I'm so sorry, Kuroi-san."

"… Then it was all pointless," Kuroi began to weep. "_All _of it. I… _Shit_… This is not fare! Are you saying I can _never_ marry Sawako?"

"… Well," Miyuki answered, "In _Japan_, no."

"… What do you mean by that?"

Miyuki smiled. "Also, while I was searching the internet, I _might_ have found a sort of loophole…"

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Truths have been revealed! Plans set into motion! The fate of our couple rests on the events of a single night! How will they fare? Stay tuned...

Also, the Aragawa was voted Frobes's 2006 Most Expensive Restaurant in the World. This explains why Nanako got so excited and how Mugi was able to make reservations.


	8. Aragawa

Chapter 8

Kuroi's hands were trembling, not to mention sweating. The fingers in her right hand clutched her cell phone. Its display read out Sawako's number. All that was left for her to do was to press the green "Call" button, but Nanako found that she was too nervous. "_You can do this_," she told herself. "_You've called her a million times before… Even though they were not for **this** intent_." Her left hand slid down her leg to feel the bulge the blue box in her left pant pocket made.

Nanako looked up from her phone to see her students (now good friends) watching from a short distance away. For encouragement, Konata shot a thumbs-up in Kuroi's direction, telling her "You can do it, girl!"

Putting a smile to her lips and breathing in one last heave of her chest, Nanako pushed the green button and brought the phone to her ear.

Each ring seemed to last an eternity.

"_Hello_?" came Sawako's voice from the other end of the line.

"… H- Hi," Nanako answered. "It's me." She could not help but sound nervous (for indeed she was.)

"_Hey, how's it going?_"

"Fine… Hey…" Kuroi seemed too nervous to even speak. "Are you… free this weekend?"

"_Sure, absolutely. You got a place in mind or am **I** going to bring us somewhere_?"

"N- No, I got a reservation."

"_That so? Is it gonna be 'Hole' again. I kind of liked that place._"

"No, not there… Somewhere _else_…"

"**_Another_**_ secret destination? I get ya. Sure, I'm up for it. When do we go?_"

"Saturday night. The place is kind of far, so we need to leave around 19:00."

"_Sure. See you then, honey_."

_That_ name Nanako liked. "Ok… But are you _sure_ you can come?"

"_Uh, yeah, think so_."

"But are you _absolutely_ sure?" Nanako stressed.

"… _Yeah, I can go… Are you feeling ok, Nanako?_"

"Fine fine," Kuroi quickly replied. "I got to go, ok?"

"_Ok… See you then. Love you._"

"… Love you, too. Bye." Kuroi felt the weight of the conversation lift from her shoulders the second she pressed the red "Disconnect" button. Breathing yet another heavy sign, she looked back to her student's smiling faces.

"_Yeah, **that's** done_," Kuroi told herself, "_now all that's left is the **hard** part…_"

-o0o-

Later that same day, as the members of the light music club were about to begin a practice session in their club room, there came a buzz from the table. Recognizing it as the vibrations of a cell phone a few seconds later, the five girls ran over to the table to find that it was Mio's phone.

Picking it up, the raven-haired girl flipped her phone open and quickly skimmed the contents of the text message within. "… Hey," she finally spoke. "It's from Konata!"

"What's it say?" Yui asked with enthusiasm.

Mio read off the message aloud. "Nanako just called Sawako. Said she could go to 'Proposal Date.' Remember… DON'T tell Sawako." Putting the phone back down onto the table, she turned her gaze to her friends. "Well, that's pretty straightforward."

"Right," agreed Ritsu. "We make _no_ hint at Nanako's planned proposal. Got it, everyone?" she asked the other three (Mugi, Azusa, and Yui), who all gave a nod of their heads.

Just then, as if on cue, the club room door opened and Sawako Yamanaka entered. "Uh, h- hey, Sawa-chan," greeted Yui, whose voice betrayed her in displaying her nervousness. "How are you tod-"

Just then, the lead guitarist, as well as the other members of the band, noticed something with Sawako they had previously not: her expression. With her eyes seemingly glued to the floor directly in front of her, they showed a mixture of confusion and deep thought. Without giving the girls so much as a glance, Sawako walked over to the table and took a seat.

"… Something up?" Yui asked.

"… I'm not sure," Yamanaka replied, her voice solemn. "I mean, it _could_ be nothing, but I just have this strange feeling that… Hmm…"

"Something on your mind?" Mio then asked. "You can tell us if you want."

"Well…" the teacher began, "I got a call earlier today from Nanako." The five girls tensed up at the mention of Nanako's name. "She called to ask if I wanted to have dinner somewhere."

"So?" Ritsu inquired. "You two go out all the time, right?"

"True… But… This time, the way she asked, it just felt sort of _different_… She kept asking if I was _sure_ I could go." She finally lifted her gaze and put it onto the girls. "What do you think it means?"

The members of the light music club _knew_ what it meant: Nanako was making sure Sawako would show up for the date so that she could propose to her. However, they were just given their orders from Konata: hint _nothing_ at that prospect. All five knew that they needed to choose their next words carefully.

"Well," answered Azusa, "maybe she just wants to make sure you can come. You know, so there aren't any last minute changes in the plan?"

"… I guess," Sawako agreed, "but we've never had to do that before. Usually, whenever a night out was planned, we made _extra_ sure that _both_ our schedules were clear. We've never had last minutes changes before… So why would she start stressing this _now_?"

Yui once more added her two-cents by suggesting "… Maybe she has something special planned-" She instantly regretted her words.

"Something _special_?" Sawako echoed. "Hmm, _maybe_… But _what_?"

Quickly realizing her blunder, Yui began to rapidly wave her hands in front of her. "No, nothing, nothing," she rapidly spoke. "I wasn't proposing anything- I mean _suggesting_! I wasn't _suggesting_ anything!"

The auburn-haired woman raised an eyebrow at the now flailing student. "Your acting really… _weird_ today, Hirasawa… Ok, you know what? I got to get going. Besides," said Sawako as she rose from her chair, "I have a lot of work the needs to be finished. I'll see you all tomorrow."

With that, Sawako left the club room and shut the door behind her. The five girls listened as their sensei's footsteps went down the stairwell. Once they were all sure that she was in the hallway beneath them, they heaved a unison sigh of relief.

"That was close… _Too_ close…" commented Azusa, who then turned her attention to Yui. "Yui-sempai, what were you thinking!"

"Sorry, Azu-nyan," the sempai apologized, all the while scratching the back of her head. "Well, I never _said_ that Nanako was planning to propose."

"But you came damn close," Ritsu interjected. "Still, our secret is safe for _now_."

-o0o-

The Day of Days finally arrived: the day Nanako Kuroi planned to propose to her lover, Sawako Yamanaka. Before Kuroi planned to drive out to Sawako's house, she had a meeting in front of her apartment with a certain group of nine. At this hour (18:00) the autumn day was already beginning to turn dark. An orange glow seemed to hang over all surfaces.

"So… You're _all_ going to tag along?" Nanako asked the nine students. "Look, I appreciate that you're all supporting me and coming to back me up… but just exactly _how_ are all _nine_ of you planning to follow us?"

Konata immediately shot a finger in Mugi's direction. "She has a limo on standby," the otaku explained. "We'll be following your car to the restaurant, and then we'll be at a table nearby, just to make sure nothing goes wrong!"

Nanako could not help but look worried. "It just seems like a risk with such a large group… but if you're all willing to do this… Thank you," Kuroi said to the girls with a smile. The girls smiled back. "Well, I gotta get going soon."

"Got the ring?" Mio asked.

"Right here in my pocket," Nanako replied, giving her left pant pocket a few taps of her hand.

"And the reservation?"

"Yep. In my coat pocket… Wish me luck, everyone!" With that, Nanako turned and entered her car. Mugi waited until she had driven a distance of about five hundred feet before she whipped out her cell phone, called the limo on speed dial, and asked the driver to get to their location. In some ways, it was a moment that mirrored a Matrix film.

A few moments later, a white limo, the same one from before, turned a corner in the road behind where the girls stood. Stopping next to them, the tires giving a slight squeak, the nine filed inside, Mugi entering first and took the seat nearest the window that opened into the driver's seat. Once the back door closed, Mugi flipped a switch and the divider lowered.

"Where to, Miss Kotobuki?" asked the driver.

Mugi answered by pointing her arm _through_ the opening, past the man's head, and at the silver vehicle in the distance. "Follow that car!... Please." she told the driver.

At once the limo rolled forward and began its chase of Nanako. As that went underway, Mugi shut the divider and turned her eyes back onto her eight companions. "There are drinks in the fridge," Mugi explained as she pointed to the mini-fridge located to the right of her legs. She then pointed to the small television attached to the ceiling of the car above her head and said "You may watch television if you wish. Please, feel free to relax."

"Gladly," Konata said with a smirk as she immediately pivoted herself to her left and fell backwards into a lying position, her head of blue hair falling directly on Kagami's lap.

"H- Hey!" Kagami yelled at her friend an instant later. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"Relaxing," Izumi replied.

"Well do it on someone _else_!" the elder Hiiragi commanded as she lifted Konata's head from off her and pushed it off to her left. Unintentionally, Konata's head landed (face _down_) into the lap of the girl who sat to the left of Konata: Mio.

The black-haired girl let loose a piercing shriek and, acting on pure instinct, pushed the intruder away. However, instead of sending Konata back to her right, Mio pushed her _forward_, causing the otaku hit the floor of the limo with a rather loud thud. "Oh crap, I'm so sorry!" Mio quickly apologized. "Are you ok?"

Izumi got back up and sat back into her seat, replying "Yeah, I'm good… He he, guess I got a two-for-one deal there."

"Oh shut up," exclaimed Kagami.

Sitting near the back of the limo, Yui looked on at this exchange between the twin-tailed girl and the blunette. As she watched, a certain thought popped into her head, a thought that she felt compelled to ask on. She looked to her right, to the younger Hiiragi, to see how she was reacting to the girls' interactions. Tsukasa merely looked at her and gave a nervous, yet light laugh, telling her that she didn't have the answer she was searching for.

Turning to her _right_, Miyuki sat next to Yui. She seemed to watch on like they were a television set: as if what was occurring was only natural between the two. Yui decided to ask _her_. "Uh, Yiki-chan?" she whispered to the pinkette. "Are they _always_ like this?"

"Usually," Takara replied in a casual manner, choosing to say nothing more.

Turning her gaze back to the arguing two, Yui slowly raised a hand and got the two girl's attention. "Uh, Kona-chan? Kaga-chan?"

The two turned to Yui. Kagami echoed "Kaga-chan?" in deadpan.

"Um… you two have been friends for a while, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Kagami replied. "We've been friends since freshman year. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you'd say your _close_ friends, right?"

"… Sure…"

"Are you… 'Nanako and Sawa-chan' close?" Yui then asked.

A giant cat-like grin materialized on Konata's face the instant the question was asked. Then, shooting her right arm around Kagami's waist and pulling her tight against her, the blunette declared "We most definitely are-!"

"NOT!" Kagami finished as she dug her nails into the intruding arm, forcing it to retract off her body. "Don't believe Konata, Yui. She likes to joke, and half the time, she doesn't know when to _quit_!"

"Hey, who's joking?" Konata asked Kagami, maintaining her grin. "I want you to be my waifu, Kagamin!"

"Ugh, knock it off!" Though Kagami's voice clearly showed objection, there came a blush over her face. "_Is it from embarrassment?_" Yui asked herself, "_or is it because of something else…? I can't tell. It's hard to say with these two…_"

-o0o-

The limo came to a sudden halt, sending the girls sliding forward in their seats. Wondering what happened, Mugi opened the divider once more and asked the driver "Why did we stop?"

"Your target vehicle," the man replied, "stopped in front of a house down the street.

Hearing this, Ritsu (with her back arched forward, given the low height of the limo's ceiling) walked over to the back door's window and lowered it with a push of a button, sending the cold air from the outside _inside_. She poked her head out the window and looked down the street, spotting the silver car parked in front of a house. "Nanako's at Sawa-chan's house!" Ritsu announced.

-o0o-

Kuroi stood before the door of Sawako's home. Before, she had done well to control her nervousness. But now, such feelings were beginning to come closer and closer to boil. With great trepidation, she reached forward and pressed the doorbell button. A minute later, Sawako appeared from the other side.

"Hey, honey," Sawako greeted as she leaned forward to peck Nanako on the lips.

"You called me 'honey.'" Nanako said back.

"Well, you never objected. I _could_ go back to Otakuroi-"

"No, not _that_, please!... Well, shall we get going?"

With a nod, the two got into Nanako's car and began their long drive to their destination, Sawako being unaware of the expensive car that trailed them.

-o0o-

The sight that stood before them was _far_ from Nanako expected of Forbes's 2006 Most Expensive Restaurant of the Year. Before her and Sawako sat a single, dimly lit, narrow passageway; a skinny brick corridor place between two adjacent buildings. At the end of said corridor, placed at the foot of a few downward steps, was an unmarked door.

This place exuded _nothing_ that said "expensive," "luxurious," or even "classy." In nearly all respects, this looked like the gateway to a greasy spoon or bar.

Sawako turned her eyes to the blonde that stood to her left. "So, you bring me to _another_ shady place," she commented in an obviously joking manner. "And here I thought you were going to surprise me."

"W- Wait!" Nanako protested. "Let me check the reservation." Retrieving it from her pocket, she peeked at it discreetly, making sure her lover was not able to see the name of the restaurant. "No, this _is_ it."

"Not what you expected?"

"Not really… Well, it's a good a place as any, I suppose." She _meant_ to say that last part _within_ her head, but Kuroi quickly brushed that error off. "Let's go inside."

Side by side did the two begin to walk the length of the corridor. With each step, Kuroi began to imagine more and more that they had approached the wrong place. Such thoughts were quickly banished the second they entered though the doorway.

Upon entering, the couple's ears were instantly caressed with the sounds of pleasantly light orchestral music, played through a type of sound system. The two entered into a small waiting room carpeted in crimson, walled in mahogany, and its ceiling adorned with a small chandelier. Immediately upon entering, the suited man that stood behind the podium dispensed with the obligatory question.

"Do you two have a reservation?" he asked.

"Yes we do," Nanako replied as she approached the man, Sawako following close behind. "Under the name 'Kuroi.'"

A few seconds of search confirmed Nanako's words. "Ah, yes," said the man. "Table for two. Please, follow me."

Entering into the next room brought the couple to a new height of awe. The dining area itself was built in an old Victorian style. Halfway across the length of the single room (which housed a grand total of only ten tables) stood two white columns that hugged the walls and rose toward the high ceiling. Two shimmering chandeliers, each housed in handing cylinders of amber cloth, hung from the ceiling, casting the warm, amber color throughout the room.

Forcing their eyes not to wander (as to not look like idiots), the pair were led to a table near the center of the restaurant, leaving only one other table unfilled. Most of the others that were eating here looked like businessman, politicians, and CEOs. Kuroi was starting to feel out of place.

Being seated, the waiter asked if the two wanted anything to drink. Nanako seemed to hold no remorse as she picked up the drink menu and ordered one of the more expensive bottles of white wine. Once the man walked off, Sawako shot the blonde an intense look. "Just _how_ are you planning to pay for all this?" she whispered. "I mean, this all looks _really expensive_."

"Oh, don't worry," Kuroi casually replied. "I'm not paying for any of this- Oops."

"Ah ha! I _knew _something was up! So, who's helping you out with this? Huh?"

"… One of your students: Tsumugi Kotobuki."

"Mugi?... Well, I guess that makes sense. She _is_ pretty loaded." Kuroi then expect Sawako to ask further, to ask _why_ Mugi was taking part in this, but much to her surprise and relief, she interrogated no further. At that moment, the white wine was brought over in a small metal cylinder, the bottom packed with crushed ice. When the waiter then asked if they were ready to order their entrée, it was now _Sawako's_ turn to flex her muscles of indulgence.

"Two of the most expensive steaks you got," she ordered.

-o0o-

Outside Aragawa, across the _street_ from it, the nine girls waited until they thought it was safe to enter. They agreed on waiting at least five minutes before entering the restaurant _themselves_. "Is it time _yet_?" Ritsu asked with annoyance as a feathery puff of her breath escape into the cold night air.

Kagami retrieved her cell phone and checked the time. "Ooookay," she said, "we can go in… Now."

As a collective, the group scurried themselves across the street and into the narrow corridor. Being _nine_ of them, they quickly felt like sardines in a can as they all individually worked toward the door. Once they all stepped inside, the same waiter that met with Sawako and Nanako gave the girls a discreet raise of an eyebrow. "May I help you?" he asked the group.

"… Oh, yes," Mugi responded. "We all have a reservation."

"… All _nine_ of you?"

"Yes, sir. Under the name 'Kotobuki.'"

The man glanced at the reservation list for a split second, but his eyes returned to the group once more. "I _do_ see your name on the list, but there is only one table left and I can't sit all of you at one ta-" The waiter stopped mid-sentence as his eyes fell upon that which he previously overlooked: Mugi's signature eyebrows. "Holy crap, you're the boss's daughter! I- I apologize profusely, Miss Kotobuki, I meant no disrespect!" Quickly snatching up an armful of menus, he led the girls into the dining area.

If by some stroke of luck, the empty table was placed a good distance from the table the two teachers sat in. As they approached, the waiter made hand signals at the other waiters that were walking around, telling them to get more chairs. By the time they reached the table, nine chairs were already packed tightly around the round table. As they took their seats, Mugi politely stated to her friends "You can order whatever you wish."

"Well in _that_ case," Ritsu said, "we'll _all_ have the most expensive thing on the m-"

WHAM!

Ritsu was cut short with the contact of Mio's fist against the top of her head. "We're not here to _eat_," Mio growled at her friend through her teeth. "We're her to _watch_, remember?"

"Y- Yeah, right," the now wounded Ritsu relented. Noticing that there were already glasses of water placed on the table, she as everyone if "Just water ok?" When everyone seemed to nod in response, the waiter left the group alone.

"Ok, target in sight," announced Konata, looking at a table near the center of the restaurant. Everyone turned their eyes to the table and watched as a waiter approached and placed in front of each of them a steak entrée. "All that's left is to sit back… and with for it to happen…"

-o0o-

Sawako placed her fork on her now empty plate, Nanako doing the same shortly after. Taking a sip of her wine, she commented aloud "Now _that_ was a steak." Kuroi concurred with a smile and a nod of her head. After a few more moments of content silence, their waiter retuned and collected their dishes, asking if there was anything else they would like to order. When both declined, he left to bet the couple to collect their bill.

Sawako decided _then_ to ask what had ran through her mind throughout the entire date. "Ok, Nanako," she said to her lover, "do have any idea why your and _my_ students are sitting at that table behind us?"

"… W- What?" Nanako asked back. Then, poking her head around Sawako, she spotted the nine in question at a table not far from theirs, their eyes aimed directly at Sawako and her.

"So?" Yamanaka continued to interrogate.

"Well…" _Might as well tell the truth_. "They came here to support me."

"_Support_? What for?"

"… This," Kuroi replied as she rose from her seat, walked over to Sawako's left, and slowly fell to one knee.

"_What the heck?_" Sawako asked herself. "_What the hell is she d- Oh God._"

"I… I wanted to do this earlier," Nanako said to her lover, her voice now a whisper, "at Hole, but that place just wasn't suitable… _This_ place _is_." Her left hand reached into her left pant pocket and she retrieved from it the small blue box.

"_Oh my god! She's not actually going to- Holy shit…_"

Kuroi's trembling hands held the box up to Yamanaka. At that point, those who sat at the tables around the couple were now staring at her. She ignored them. Bringing the box closer to Sawako, Nanako open it, revealing the diamond ring within.

The nine girls at the other table were now standing up off their seats, each of them holding their breath.

"Sawako…" Kuroi paused. "Sawako, will you marry me?"

Sawako's world went silent. That which she never thought could happen (or thought _possible_) had just occurred: Nanako had just asked for her hand in marriage, in holy matrimony, in an eternal bond of love.

"N- Nanako," Sawako whispered back, "I… I don't know what to say…"

"_Say 'Yes,_'" Kuroi thought. "_Please_."

The moment lingered for an eternity. Nanako remained on her knee, the ring presented, waiting for a response.

Suddenly, Sawako's hands shot forward, grasped the blue box, and her fingers snapped it shut.

_Oh no…_

The auburn-haired woman leaned forward, planning her lips next to Nanako's right ear. "Not _here_," she whispered. "Follow me." She then grabbed her lover by both wrists and led her toward the exit at a near jogging pace.

The girls gasped in shock. "W- What's going on?" asked Yui aloud. "Where are they going?"

"I don't know," replied Konata. "We gotta follow them!"

"But wait," said Mio. "What about the bill?"

"I'll take care of it!" Mugi offered. "Everyone, go and follow them!"

"But what about _you_, Mugi-chan?"

"Just go, please! I'll catch up soon."

With apprehension, the remaining eight made toward the exit and left through the front door, just in time to see the fleeing couple turn left out of the corridor.

Sawako continued to pull Nanako further down the sidewalk, passing confused bystanders along the way. With each step, Kuroi plunged further into despair, fearing that Sawako would deny her proposal. After a few minutes, Yamanaka led her friend to a place she spotted on the drive _to_ the Aragawa: a small playground, long since unused when the weather became cold. The playground consisted of a metal slide, a pair of swings, and a trio of see-saws. Spotting a bench in the playground, placed under the halogen light of a streetlight, Sawako led Nanako to the bench and sat her and herself down onto to. Her grip of Kuroi's hands never loosened.

Once seated, Sawako glided her hands up the length of Nanako's arms and finally down and around her waist, pulling her body closer to hers. She spent a moment simply looking into Kuroi's now fearful and tearing eyes, regretting to herself what she was about to tell her.

The eight girls arrived at the edge of the playground a moment before Sawako spoke. Seeing the two sitting on the bench, they made a wordless agreement between each other to keep their distance from the couple.

"Nanako," Sawako whispered softly to her lover. "I… You know that I love you, right?"

"… Y- Yeah…" she replied in a similar whisper.

"And you know that I would do anything _for_ you, right?"

"… Sawa-chan…?" It had been a while since she used _that_ name.

"Y- You caught me off guard, Nanako. I… I just wasn't expecting this." Kuroi voiced a soft whine as Sawako slid herself closer to her. "I never knew you loved me _this_ much…"

"… So… Is that a _yes_?" Nanako whispered.

Sawako paused. "… I'm sorry, Kuroi, but-"

Nanako suddenly leaned forward and buried her face into Yamanaka's left shoulder. She exploded into tears and sobs, knowing that all she had planned for was ruined. Sawako comforted her by leaning her head forward to kiss her left cheek. "I'm really sorry, Nanako, but… I'm just not ready for this yet."

Kuroi continued to sob into Sawako's shoulder for a few more seconds before finally lifting her puffy red eyes back to her lover's eyes. "… _Yet_?" she then repeated.

Sawako smiled. Bringing her right hand back to Nanako's front, she whipped from her face the tears that stained her cheeks. "I need to think about something like this," Sawako explained. "Maybe if you ask me later, I'll reconsider, but for now-"

The touch of her lover lips against hers halted Sawako's words. Nanako wrapped her arms around Sawako's shoulders as _she_ returned her arms around Kuroi's waist. For that moment, the two forgot all about what occurred in Aragawa. There only existed themselves in their world…

A distance away, the eight students looked on in silence. Though they didn't dare to speak, their thoughts were similar. "_So did she say yes or not_?" they thought to themselves. As they watched, Mugi's running footsteps sounded from behind them. Finally catching up with the others, she bend over and panted to catch her breath. "Sorry… I took… So long," she said in-between breaths. "So… What did I miss?" When no one answered, Mugi lifted her head to see the two kissing on the bench. "Oh!… Did she say 'Yes?'" she then whispered.

"Don't know," Azusa whispered back. "If not, I think they've made up."

"… That was quick."

Returning to silence, the nine watched their teacher's intimate moment together. It lasted for a few more moments before their lips (and no doubt their tongues) broke contact and the two exchanged more words between each other. After that, the pair got up from the bench, hand in hand, and they returned to the sidewalk, heading off in the direction of where they parked.

The girls held back and watched as the lovers walked off together. "… So," said Konata at great length, "… is it 'Mission Complete' or 'Fission Mailed?'"

"Not sure," replied Kagami. "Maybe _both_?"

Once the couple walked out of sight, Mugi suggested to everyone "Maybe it's time we all went home?" When everyone nodded in agreement, Mugi dialed the number of the driver and within a few minutes, they were underway on their return journey.

-o0o-

After _all_ that had occurred, after all the heartbreak and the mending thereafter the two experienced, the couple that was Nanako Kuroi and Sawako Yamanaka _still_ held a strong bond of love and affection toward one another. Their love was still so strong, they _still_ found it in their hearts to return to Sawako's home and share a more intimate moment beneath the sheets of her bed. When love is _that_ strong, you no longer need reasons to do such things…

When the two finished, they both found themselves in the same position: lying atop Sawako's bed, their naked bodies covered with nothing but a thin sheet, and their eyes looking into the ceiling above. Turning her head to her left, Sawako noticed that Nanako, once more, had a sullen look on her face.

"… You're still thinking about earlier, aren't you?" Yamanaka asked.

Kuroi's response was a single nod of her head, her eyes still fixed toward the ceiling.

Reaching her left hand beneath the sheet, Sawako grabbed Nanako by her right hand. "Don't worry about it," she reassured her lover. "I just need time to think about it, that's all."

Kuroi finally broke eye contact with the ceiling and turned it to Sawako and, for the first time in a few hours, smiled. "It sounds to me like you've _already_ made your decision and you're just _screwing_ with me."

Yamanaka smiled back. "The _last_ thing I'd do to you, Kuroi, is screw with you… I'd _screw_ you, sure, but not screw _with_ you."

"… You know, that sort of sounds like the same thing when you think about it."

"Oh shut up," Sawako joked. Reaching over the edge on her side of the bed, she retrieved her cell phone from the pocket of her discarded pants and checked the time. It was midnight on the button. "It's late. You can head home if you want to."

"Actually…" Nanako said back, "would it be ok if I spent the night _here_? I mean, we usually just go back to our homes whenever we… _do it_, so-"

"Say no more," Sawako interrupted as she slipped the phone back into the pocket. "After _today_, sure, you can stay. I think I have extra pajamas in my dresser somewh-"

"Uh, Sawa-chan… can we forego _that_ too?"

The brunette turned back to the now grinning blonde. "Looks like _someone's_ feeling better."

"Well, I figure it's just a waiting game now until you say 'Yes,' and for _you_… I'd be willing to wait a lifetime."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Heartbreak has fallen upon our blonde heroine, but even after her perfect night failed to come to furition, the bond between her and Sawako remains.

Only one chapter remains. How will it end? Stay tuned...


	9. The Final Confrontation

Chapter 9

Nanako awoke the next morning, a overcast and chilly Sunday, at a rather early hour. The sun had barely begun it resurfacing from beyond the horizon, leaving the bedroom she awoke in dark (if the clouds didn't see to that already). Straining a long, drawn-out stretch of a sigh, she suddenly heard movement to her right.

She quickly turned to the sound's source only to find herself feeling rather foolish: it was Sawako, of course. "_Oh yeah, that's right,_" she told herself, giving the right side of her head a light hit of _silly me_, "_I stayed the night at her place._" Kuroi watched Sawako sleep for a few silent moments, her eyes eventually running up and down the length the shape her bare body made though the sheet.

Sliding herself over to the left side of the bed (slowly, as to not wake her partner), Nanako retrieved her phone from a pant pocket and checked the time. It was 7:24. "_Still pretty early for a weekend… I know! I make breakfast for the both of us!_" Slipping herself out from beneath the covers and putting on her clothes from yesterday, Kuroi crept as quietly as she could out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into Sawako's kitchen.

By the time she had entered the room, she _knew_ what she wanted to serve: miso soup, rice porridge, and poached eggs (because… why not?) Kuroi was pleased to find that her girlfriend's cabinets, pantries, and fridge were all well stocked, making her search of ingredients easy.

Nanako fell into her work easily, taking on both making the soup and porridge at the same time. Being the easier to make, the soup was finished first and immediately Kuroi commenced with the eggs. In her busy state, she failed to notice the person sneaking up behind her, only becoming aware when their arms suddenly reached from behind her and wrapped around her waist.

Kuroi gave an initial shriek, but after recognizing the touch and feel of the arms, followed shortly after by the body that pressed against her back, she quickly felt foolish for being so scared. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," Nanako told Sawako, "_especially_ when they are dealing with hot items."

Sawako giggled as her hold of Kuroi's waste tightened slightly. "Then let's hope no one is sneaking up on _me_," she said back, "because I'm holding one _hot_ item right now."

"_Jesus, that's such a bad _joke," Nanako said to herself.

"You know," Sawako continued, "_acting_ like my wife isn't going to change my mind any quicker."

In truth, that thought had never even crossed Kuroi's mind. "What, so I can't just decide to make breakfast on a whim anymore?" Nanako asked back. "Maybe I don't _want_ to be married to you."

Sawako shot back a faux gasp of shock. "How _dare_ you!" she joked as she brought her lips to make contact with Kuroi's neck. "I'm gonna check my e-mail, ok?" Nanako nodded back and Yamanaka relinquished her grip and walked off into the other room.

Kuroi smiled as she returned to her work. "_This would be nice_," she mused to herself. "_The two of us, like this, everyday… forever…_" That last thought lingered peacefully in Nanako's head as she set the table, making a visually pleasing presentation of all the food she had cooked, and sat down to await her breakfast companion. Knowing she was just in the other room, Nanako assumed Sawako wouldn't be but a few more minutes.

So she waited.

And waited.

…

And _waited_…

But once seven minutes passed, Nanako began to worry. "Sawako?" she called across the room, into the open doorway, "you done in there or not?" When there came no response, she rose from her chair and headed toward the next room. She took no more than two steps before her nose was graced with a smell she had not been _personally_ acquainted with for a long, _long_ time.

"_What __**is**__ that smell?_" she asked herself as she struggled to peg the answer. "_I __**know**__ I've smelled it before… Wait… It's __**smoke!**_" Her immediate thought was that the house was on fire. Running into the next room revealed that hypothesis to be wrong, but what she _did_ find seemed much worse: her girlfriend, pacing the room, furiously smoking a _cigarette_, something she claimed to have quit over five years ago.

Nanako was almost at a loss for words. "S- Sawako? Wha… What the **fuck** are you **doing?**" she screamed at the near top of her lungs. "I thought you _quit_!"

"I _did_," she quickly replied, all the while taking more rapid smokes, quickly filling the air of the room in a cloud.

"Then where the hell did _those_ come from?" Kuroi then interrogated.

Sawako suddenly halted her pacing to look Nanako in the eye. "… Ok, so I haven't been _completely_ clean… Besides, I only do it when I'm _really _nervous… like _now_."

"Nervous?" Nanako echoed with worry in _her_ voice. "Worried about _what_?"

Yamanaka aimed a finger at her computer, situated atop a table near a corner of the room. The monitor was opened up to an email. Kuroi approached the screen and began to read the message. It was short but nonetheless precise.

_Dear Sawako,_

_Your mother and I have only recently learned of you and Nanako Kuroi._

_We want you to return home tomorrow so that we may discuss this._

_Signed,_

_Takao & Jun Yamanaka_

Nanako was unsure how to react to this: as fearful as Sawako or pleased to hear that Sawako was actually hearing from her _parents_. After all, it had been several years since Sawako became "wild" and lost contact with her mother and father. Perhaps the fact they sent this message was a sign of that they wanted to mending their broken bond.

Kuroi turned back around to see that Sawako had slumped herself backwards into a loveseat, her panic-stricken eyes aimed toward the ceiling, perhaps wishing it would fall on top of her at any second. "I don't understand," Nanako said as she approached Sawako, "aren't you happy that your parents are talking to y-"

In a blink of an eye, Sawako shot back to her feet and grabbed Nanako by both shoulders, her fingers entering a death grip. "Have you _forgotten_?" she yelled at Kuroi. "If they banished me from the family just because I became 'wild,' what do you think they're going to do to me now that they found out about _you_? About **_us_**?"

"… Why are you so worried, Sawako? You're not a kid anymore, you know? You don't have to listen to them anymore."

"I know, I _know_. It's just… My parents sort of… _terrify_ me."

"Terrify?" Kuroi echoed.

"When I became wild, they didn't just kick me out of the house. Father declared that I was 'a disappointment to the entire Yamanaka family' and that I was shaming my entire lineage…" Sawako paused to heave a nervous breath. "I never told you about my parents before… My father is a war veteran from World War II."

"Jesus," Kuroi whispered in stun. A mental image of Sawako's father popped into her head at that moment: she imagined a frightening "G.I Joe-like" character, dressed in robe, the cloth stretched to the point of near breaking from the massive muscles it housed. The image for her _mother_, however, she was not able to produce, but Kuroi imagined she was none too pleasing to be in company with.

"He use to tell me all these scary stories about the war," Sawako continued, her gaze lowering to Nanako's feet. "After the war was over, he made a vow to atone for his sins and never kill again. That's when he devoted his life to our family's shrine.

My dad is about as religions as one can possibly be, and because of that, I was raised to be what he saw as a 'perfect little girl.' So, needless to say, when I began to change who I was to gain the attention of my childhood crush… he became angered at me.

I pretended not to care when they kicked me out of their home… but I was actually heartbroken." Yamanaka finally lifted her eyes back to Kuroi's. "How could he do that? Kick their only daughter out of their home for something as stupid as that?"

All these things about Sawako were things that Kuroi had not known until this very moment. She understood _why_ Sawako would keep such things a secret (being such unpleasant memories) but Nanako was both happy and saddened by the revealing of Sawako's past.

"Well…" Nanako finally answered, "maybe you can _ask_ them today?"

"Wha- _Ask_ them?" Sawako echoed.

"The email asked that you see them 'tomorrow.' It was _sent_ yesterday. We can _both_ go and straighten this whole thing out together," Kuroi explained, putting a smile to her face.

"I… I guess…" Yamanaka replied, "… but isn't it a little risky for you to come? I mean, it just might make things worse."

Nanako reassured her friend by reaching her arms around her waist. "I won't let you do this alone."

"… Thank you, Nanako."

"Now then, let's have our breakfast, ok?"

Yamanaka smiled. "Sure."

-o0o-

After their breakfast and first stopping off at Nanako's apartment to change into clean clothes, the couple began to undertake what would be a _long_ drive to Sawako's hometown. With Sawako at the helm of her car, she drove through the congested freeway with Nanako in the accompanying passenger seat. Throughout the entire ride, the two spoke very little, silently conveying their nervousness.

They arrived in Yamanaka's town at around noon (making a total drive time nearing a staggering three and a half hours.) In contrast to the town Nanako grew up in, this town was much larger and sported an urban-like setting in its center. It was there in a parking complex that Sawako parked her car.

The couple walked side by side along the sidewalk. Sawako's eyes could not help but wander, to take in the sights around her. They were currently strolling through the shopping district, where many passersby were out and about, making their various purposes. "Bringing back memories?" Nanako asked her.

"Yeah," she replied, her tone still conveying nervousness. "I use to hang out a lot with friends here. You know, what I was _allowed_ out…"

"… So how much farther is your house?"

"Not much farther. It built on a hill on the edge of this district, near the park. You'll know we're there when you see trees."

Not a few more minutes of walking and a turn around a corner brought before them the sight of the aforementioned trees. A tall hill seemed to rise in an out-of-place manner from the urban setting. A steep stone stairwell cut a path through the trees and up to the hill's peak, its beginning adorned with a sign that read "Yamanaka."

The couple stood in silence before the stairs, each of them waiting for the other to take the first step up. Nanako suddenly grabbed Sawako's left hand with her right. "Let's go."

With a nod in response, both women began their trek upward. As they began, Nanako looked into the branches above to see a pair of ominous black crows looking down on the couple. Even for Kuroi, who chose not to believe in such superstitious things, she saw _that_ as a bad omen. Many steps brought them to the sight of the shrine itself. It was built in traditional ancient Japanese style and was quite large in scale, a flat stone courtyard placed in front of it.

As they approached the front door, Sawako's eyes began to drift to her left and her walking came to a sudden stop. "Sawako?" asked Nanako as she came to a stop herself.

"Over there," she responded, aiming her gaze to a spot in the courtyard. "That was where I met that boy when I was a kid, the boy that made me become wild." She regarded the spot like a long lost memory.

"Oh yeah, what was his name again? Itachi?"

"Ichigo," Yamanaka corrected. "… I wonder if it all worth it? To pursue him at such a great length? After all, it led me to be disowned by my own family-"

"But if you didn't," Nanako continued, returning her hand into Sawako's, "you would have never become the woman I fell in love with."

"… True…"

Just then, just as the two were about to enter through the front door of the building, there came from behind them the sound of fast approaching footsteps. Turning around, the girls were met with the sight of a young woman (probably eighteen years old) running toward them. She had long, deep lavender hair that reached down to her elbows. She was dressed in the traditional red and white attire of shrine maidens. In her right hand was clutched a straw broom.

The girl spoke in a quite (but nonetheless authoritative) voice. "Excuse me," she said, "but you cannot enter here without the consent of the Yamanaka family."

Nanako turned to Sawako and asked "Do you know her?"

She shook her head in reply. "No, I don't. Um, did my dad hire you to take care of the shrine?"

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Your _dad_…? Wait, are you saying that your Takao Yamanaka's _daughter_?" Sawako nodded. "That's strange. I don't remember Mr. Yamanaka ever talking about a daughter. I always assumed they never had children."

"Well, he and I aren't exactly on speaking terms… Um, who are you again?"

"Oh, excuse me," the girl quickly apologized with a bow, "I meant no disrespect. My name is Honoka Sakurai. I've been working at this shrine for only the past year. Um, what is _your_ name?"

"Sawako Yamanaka. This here," she said, gesturing to Nanako, "is Nanako Kuroi. We're both here to see Takao. Let me guess: he's in the 'Meeting Room," correct?"

"Y- Yeah," the girl replied, as if shocked to hear her guess correctly on the first try. "I guess you really _are_ his daughter… Well, yes, he has been there all day. He told me this morning that he was expecting visitors but he refused to say _who_. I guess you're them…

Well, I suppose you know where he is better than I do, so go on ahead in… I hope whatever happens turns out ok."

"Yeah… me too," Sawako said back. Giving Nanako once more glance, they approached the door together. The sliding door opened into a narrow hallway, its floor made of immaculate hardwood and the walls made from wood framing and thin paper. The hallway seemed lined with sliding doors, each of them perhaps leading into another room.

Nanako followed Sawako closely as she walked the corridor to its end, where it then branched to the left and right. Taking the left, the two pass three more sets of doors before _that_ passageway ended, leaving one final door in front of them.

"This is it," Yamanaka whispered. "This is where they'll be, waiting…"

"Don't worry yourself," Nanako assured her girlfriend. "Just remember: you make your _own_ choices now."

Sawako heaved one last tense breath before reaching forward and sliding the door open to the right.

The room was bare, a ten foot by twenty foot space of hardwood floor and paper walls. At the end of the room opposite the door sat, atop of two cushions, two individuals: one male and one female, both _clearly_ elderly. Without warning, the man's surprisingly deep and almost _threatening_ voice echoed across the room and into the couple's ears.

"Sit down," he commanded.

At a five foot distance in front of the man and woman were two more cushions. Slowly did Sawako and Nanako enter and, one reaching the pillows, bent down to sit (Sawako sitting in front of her father and Nanako sitting in front of the mother.) At this distance, Nanako could finally get a good view of her girlfriend's parents.

As it turned out, her "G.I Joe" caricature was not too far off. The man who sat before her was a man in his early eighties but, despite his age, looked perhaps fifteen years younger. Housed under dark blue dogi-like attire was a frame that housed huge muscles, muscles he no doubt obtained from the war. His white hair was still cut in square, military fashion, his skin tanned dark, and his square face and jaw, with every wrinkle in it and the look in his eyes, told many stories.

The woman who sat to his right, however, told a _completely_ different story. The woman who sat before Nanako was an almost polar opposite to her husband. Though dressed similarly, her body looked to be no more than bones with skin attached; a frail, light skinned woman who looked as if a light breeze would kill her. The long jet black hair atop her head was tied into a huge bun, two hair sticks impaled through it that kept it in place.

For the first few minutes, not a single person spoke. Instead, the eyes of Takao shifted from her daughter, to Nanako, and back to her daughter in a seemingly never-ending loop. The eyes of Jun, however, remained _fixed_ on Nanako, sending a heated rage in her direction.

After an eternity of time, Takao was the first to speak. "Sawako," he began in a neutral tone, "not a few weeks ago, we were _planning_ on forgiving you of your past transgressions against our family."

"_Transgressions?_" both Nanako and Sawako thought.

"Youth," Takao continued, "is known to cause individuals to do _many_ things, things that, perhaps, in our right mind, we would never even _think_ of doing. When you first began to change, your mother and I were very disappointed in you, Sawako. We saw what you did as subversion against all the Yamanakas have stood for over the years: morality, purity, and reverence to God.

But now that we look back on this, we see now that, like many youths, you were merely a victim to its power. It was for _that_ reason that we had planned to forgive you and welcome you back into our family…"

"_Then what the hell is stopping you?_" Kuroi screamed in her head, suppressing her urge to speak up herself.

"But then we learned of _this_... of _her_," Takao said, taking a quick but fierce glance at Nanako, a glance that sent ice into her veins. "_This_ is **_unacceptable_**. After we heard of all you accomplished after your university days, after hearing that you've become a respectable teacher, we were pleased. But _this_ sends all hope we had of you crashing down! To think our own daughter has become… a _dyke_."

The word ripped though the two's body like razorblades tossed through the winds of a hurricane. Both girl's faces were now livid in fear, Sawako being the more so.

"What you are doing, Sawako, is a _sin_. To lay with another woman is unacceptable, deplorable, and _far_ beyond that which God views tolerable in His eyes!" Takao then turned to Jun and gave her a nod, a nod which signified his allowing her to speak.

_That bastard. What the hell was he pretending to act civil for? First he says Sawako was redeemable and then says she's __**not?**__ And what the __**fuck**__ was his deal, calling us "dykes!" _

Jun's voice, continuing her polarity to her husband, was as weak and fragile as her body. Nonetheless, her words were just as venomous. "Your father is right," she said to Sawako. "With this revelation, you continue to bring shame upon your family." She suddenly shot her tiny toward Nanako. "What is _your_ name, girl?" she spat at the now quaking blonde.

"N- Nanako," she stuttered in reply. "Nanako Kuroi."

That was the only _civility_ she received from either parent. Giving one last look at Kuroi, Jun returned her glare back to Sawako. "Your father and I have both come to a decision regarding this."

"Sawako…," continued Takao. "Your mother and I have decided to _retract_ our decision to allow you back into the family. Our decision is final."

_Oh no… Sawako, I'm so sorry._ Nanako looked to her lover's eyes to see that tears were now beginning to fall from them. _I should have never convinced you to come here. I should have told you __**not**__ to come and to just continue living as we were. It wasn't worth coming here to prove a point to them. I see now that there's __**no**__ convincing them-_

But that didn't stop Sawako from _trying_.

"… So what was the _point_ of this?" Sawako suddenly asked her parents, choosing to speak for the first time. Her tone was surprisingly calm. Whiping the water from her face, she then asked, "What was the point of coming here then?"

"What are you talking about?" her father spat.

"If nothing was going to change," she responded, her voice beginning to rise in volume and tone, "I would have not gone at all! I could have just stayed home with _Nanako_!

So, what _was_ the point of all this, _father_? Was this some attempt to make me feel _guilty_? To make me _regret_ falling in love with another woman? Was _that_ your plan?"

"Sawako," answered Takao, "you are sentencing yourself to Hell from your choice!"

"THEN SO BE IT!" Sawako screamed as she shot to her feet. Grabbing Nanako by her right wrist, she lifted her from her seat and, shooting the same arms around her waist, Yamanaka pulled Kuroi against her body and held her tight.

"W- What is the meaning of this?" Jun blurted.

"Nanako and I… Nanako and I love each other," Sawako declared. "I don't care if the family accepts me anymore! As long as I have Nanako by my side, I need nothing else… In fact…

Hey, Nanako."

The blonde slowly turned to look Sawako in her eyes. "Y- Yes?" she asked nervously back.

"Remember that _thing_ you asked me yesterday?... Wanna ask me again?"

_No way. This- This can't be true. She wants me to propose __**again**__, in front of her parents?_

"I know it's in your pocket still. Go ahead, ask me."

_It? She means the ring! Oh Jesus, I don't know if I can do it. Her parents are __**right there!**__... No, I __**have**__ to do this. I have to show Sawko's mother and father just __**how**__ in love we are! I just wonder if I can ask __**again…**_

With nervousness that would have caused most to faint at this moment, Nanako slowly began bending down onto one knee. Takao and Jun shot to their feet, fearing what was going to occur next. Trembling hands retrieved the ring from her pocket and, rising it up to Sawako, Kuroi opened the box and presented to her the diamond ring within.

Saying the next five words was _infinity_ more hard then the first time. "Sawako… Will you marry me?"

Her reply was instantaneous. "Yes! Yes, Nanako, I _will_ marry you!"

Elation surged over Nanako like a tidal wave. Sawako had finally said what she wanted her to say: Yes. Nanako jumped to her feet and quickly wrapped her arms around Sawako and she buried her now tearing eyes into her left shoulder and sobbing tears of joy.

"Sawako!" Takao yelled. "What in God's name do you think you're-"

"Shut up, dad!" Sawako shot back. "Nanako and I _are_ going to get married whether you approve or not! If you have _any_ sympathy or compassion left in you, you'd at the _least_ wish us luck… but that would be asking the impossible, wouldn't it?" When there came no words from the both of them, Sawako knew their meeting was over.

"Come on, Nanako. We're leaving." And with that, with an arm of Nanako's still on her girlfriend's waist, they left the Yamanaka home.

When the two reached the center of the courtyard outside and as they continued forward toward the stairwell, Yamanaka finally spoke. "Listen, Kuroi, I'm sorry for putting you on the spot like that. I just needed to prove to my parents that I didn't care what they said anymore. I wanted to show them that-"

Her explanation was cut short when Kuroi, spinning herself in front of Sawako, pressed herself against her body and thrusted her tongue into her lover's mouth. Sawako was quick to return the favor but was nonetheless taken back by this sudden affection. The two continued to kiss and caress the length of their bodies, leaving an on looking shrine maiden to gawk in awe at their blatant love.

When their lips finally broke contact, the expression on Nanako's face was one of _pure_ elation. "This is wonderful!" she exclaimed. "We're going to be _married_, Sawako! I've never been happier!"

Sawako smiled back, happy to see her partner so joyful, but the grin quickly went away. "Nanako," she said, her voice taking a decidedly solemn tone, "about marriage… I'm really sorry to say this, but… It's _illegal_ for us to get married in-"

"Yeah, I already know."

"… You do?"

"But don't worry. _I've_ got a way around this." Reaching into a pocket in her coat, Nanako retrieved two pairs of airplane tickets: one had an orange border, connotating international travel, and the other had a green border, representing travel _within_ the country of Japan.

"What the-? What is this?" Sawako asked.

Kuroi gave a playful grin. "We _are_ going to get married, but it _won't _be in Japan," she explained.

"… Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Canada."

"_Canada?_" Sawako echoed. "as in 'that-country-above-the-United-States' Canada?"

"The same. Canada allows foreign same-sex couples to marry there! Both these tickets are round-trip, but our trip to Canada is only for one day. Well need to head back to Japan by the next day."

"O- Ok… So, what's the _other_ tickets for?"

"Our honeymoon in Okinawa."

Okina- Where did you get the money to-?… _Mugi_, right?"

"_And_ help from some of my students as well. One of my students, Miyuki Takara, paid for the plane tickets while Mugi was gracious enough to pay for our accommodations on our honeymoon. Oh, _also_, she set up a meeting with someone in Canada to help us translate and get through the marriage ceremony. We planned it all for next week, seeing as that week we both have school vacations-

Sawako? You ok?"

The look on Sawako's face at that particular moment was a strange mixture of deadpan, disbelief, and shock. She broke her grip of Kuroi's waist to take a few stunned steps backward. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait, this can't be happening," she rationalized aloud. "This- This is just too easy. Things _never_ happen this smoothly. _Ever_! Am- Am I dreaming or something?"

Nanako reassured her future wife by approaching her and resumed her hug. "You're not dreaming," Kuroi said. "Everything from here on out will be perfect. I promise."

As dubious as that statement was, Sawako smiled, knowing that this was a promise Nanako _would_ keep.

-o0o-

For six days the now engaged couple were forced to wait until their trip out of Japan could begin. On that sixth day, both teachers revealed to their respective students the good news of a successful proposal. It goes without saying that they were all ecstatic. In addition, they were told _not_ to tell anyone of the wedding _or_ the honeymoon until _after_ they got back.

So, naturally, when the newlyweds returned after the week's vacation, the entire student body and staff of _both_ school knew.

However, that turned out to be a better turn of events. While Sawako and Nanako were away, the school boards of each school talked both amongst themselves (and with each other) about how they would deal with the revelation of openly lesbian teachers working at their schools. Naturally, at first, there was stiff opposition, but as the days went by, such opposition lessened until, eventually, a unanimous decision between all members was made.

Both teachers were allowed to keep their jobs, a decision that some would later peg as a turning point for gay rights in the nation of Japan.

-o0o-

**_One year later…_**

With the synchronized striking of one final pose, the cheerleading dance performance of the ten Ryoo High students, done to the song "Motteke! Sailor Fuku came to a stunning conclusion. After a brief instance of silence, the audience exploded into a standing ovation, the applause reaching a near deafening level. Breaking their stance, the ten gave the audience a unison bow before the curtains fell in front of them.

Once out of the view, the girls instantly huddled around each other and excitedly gave each other congratulations and complemented their flawless performance. As this event went on, from a distance away, two now _famous_ teachers (or infamous, depending on your views) watched on from backstage at the display of youth before them.

"I have to admit," said Sawako Yamanaka to her wife, who sat to her left, "when those girls get together, everyone, including that blue haired slacker, can really get things done."

Nanako smiled. "Thanks," she said back. "I _would_ be taking credit at this point, but this was all _their_ doing. I'm really impressed that they were able to coordinate something like this…

It kind of makes me sad that this year a good number of them will be graduating: Izumi, the Hiiragi sisters, and Takara, just to name a few… Damn, I'll miss them, especially after what did for me. For _us_." Kuroi slid her right hand over and grabbed Sawako's hand.

At that moment, Konata's voice rose over the excited chatter of the other. "Hey guys, look over there!" she announced. "It's Yamanaka-san! Let's go and say 'Hi!'"

Before the couple knew it, they suddenly had ten cheerleaders running over to them, greeting Sawako with enthusiastic "Hellos," "Hi," and one "How do you do?" (take a guess as to who said that.)

"Uh… Hi," she replied nervously to all of them. "I really liked your performance, everyone. You were all fantastic!"

A grin came from a certain blue haired girl. "I bet you just liked the costumes, huh?" Konata joked.

"Izumi, just take the freakin' complement. Why does everything have to be a joke with you?"

"Well, didn't seeing a bunch of girls in outfits dancing turn you o-"

WHAM!

Nanako's knuckles crowned the otaku's head with enough force to send her chin crashing to the floor. "Christ, Izumi," the teacher sighed. "It's been a freakin _year_ and you're still making those jokes? Give it a rest already, _please_."

"Fine, fine," Konata groaned as she gingerly rubbed her new skin abrasion. Then, taking a quick around, the otaku asked aloud "Where did Hiyori go?"

"Over there," Kagami replied, pointing to the girl in question standing apart from the group. She was currently in the midst of furious sketching, her gleaning eyes making rapid back-and-forths from her sketchpad to the married couple.

"Well, I guess when inspiration hits," Patricia Martin mused, "you gotta go for it."

"And I thought _I_ had weird students," Yamanaka whispered to Kuroi in an aside, to which she giggled.

"Kuroi-sensei," said Tsukasa, "you said you wanted to say something important to us earlier today?"

"… Oh yeah, I did. Well, I planned to tell just the _four_ of you… But I might as well say it now, seeing as gossip spreads in this school faster than the Black Death. Well, the news is this: I'm finally moving into Sawako's place!"

"Really?" Izumi blurted out. "So now, it's like its _official_!"

"Well," Sawako chimed in, "it just didn't make sense to me: being married but living under different roofs. This way's just much easier for the both of us."

"Not to mention," Izumi chimed once more, "do can to a lot more fu-"

"Not another word!" Yamanaka threatened. "… Hey, Houkago Tea Time's the next band up. You can all meet them backstage before they go on."

"Yes!" the wounded otaku cheered. "Everyone come on. You got to see them!" and as a group, the girls rushed into further backstage to seek out the band.

As the two teachers watched them head off, Sawako shifted on her feet. "Something up, Sawako?" Nanako asked her.

"Well," she replied slowly, "seeing all these kids, all alive with youth, it kind of makes me think."

"About what?"

She paused. "Well… maybe _we_ should have one?"

"A student?"

"No… a _child_… Nanako? _Nanako_, are you ok?"

Kuroi had collapsed to the floor in a shock-endued coma. Her wife quickly bent over and tapped her on her left cheek until she eventually awoke. "No," Kuroi replied weakly, "I don't think so. I _already_ deal with enough kids as it is. I'm not ready to _live_ with one just yet."

Sawako smiled. "That's ok," she said back. "_I_ can wait for an eternity as well."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Just to get this out of the way, Honoka Sakurai is from the anime "Suzuka." She was a shrine maiden in that show as well. Just a tiny cameo for kicks.

Well, I never thought I'd make a sequel, but I'm _extremely_ pleased at how this turned out. It was just as fun to write as the first. I'm not sure if I'll make more Lucky Star/K-On crossovers in the future, but rest assured, if I do, it will envolve the girls. Oh, the possibilities for pairings...

At any rate, I hope you've enjoyed this second installment. Your reviews are most appreciated. Thank you and happy reading to all!


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